Model predictive control of spacecraft

ABSTRACT

A spacecraft including a set of thrusters for changing a pose of the spacecraft. At least two thrusters mounted on a gimbaled boom assembly and are coupled together sharing the same gimbal angle. A model predictive controller (MPC) to produce a solution for controlling thrusters of the spacecraft by optimizing a cost function over a receding horizon using a model of dynamics of the spacecraft effecting a pose of the spacecraft and a model of dynamics of momentum exchange devices of the spacecraft effecting an orientation of the spacecraft. A modulator to modulate magnitudes of the thrust of the coupled thrusters determined by the MPC as pulse signals specifying ON and OFF states of each of the coupled thruster, wherein the ON states of the coupled thrusters sharing the same gimbal angle do not intersect in time. A thruster controller to operate the thrusters according to their corresponding pulse signals.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to controlling an operation of a spacecraft, and more particularly to concurrent station keeping, attitude control, and momentum management of spacecraft using a model predictive control (MPC) over a receding horizon, that simultaneously attains specific station keeping and unload stored momentum using a single set of thrusters.

BACKGROUND

A spacecraft in orbit is subject to various disturbance forces that affect its ability to maintain its station, i.e., desired orbit and position on the desired orbit. To counteract these forces, spacecraft are generally equipped with thrusters for station keeping maneuvers. In addition to orbital perturbations, spacecraft can be disturbed by external torques that are generally absorbed by onboard momentum exchange devices, such as reaction wheels or control moment gyroscopes, allowing the spacecraft to maintain a desired orientation relative to the Earth or stars. To prevent saturation of the momentum exchange device and subsequent loss of the desired spacecraft attitude, the stored angular momentum is periodically unloaded via the onboard thrusters. Combined station keeping and momentum unloading problem using the same set of thrusters results in multiple objectives, and methods for coordinating such objectives in order to achieve them concurrently are challenging, see, e.g., method described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,282,043 that simplify the control by using maximum values available for torques and forces of the thrusters.

Furthermore, there are often restrictions on the placement of thrusters on a spacecraft so that antennas and solar panels may be deployed without the risk of thruster plume impingement. Restricting the placement of thrusters that are used for both station keeping and momentum unloading can preclude the thrusters to provide pure torques without also applying a net force on the satellite. Therefore, firing the thrusters may affect the spacecraft position and orientation (pose) as well as the stored momentum, creating a problem of concurrent station keeping, attitude control, and momentum management.

Model predictive control (MPC) of a spacecraft can provide an autonomous control that can be implemented in an onboard control system resulting in tighter and more accurate station keeping, attitude control, and momentum unloading. However, the onboard control system can have limited computational and memory capability. To that end, a computationally efficient implementation of an MPC that considers various restrictions on the placement of thrusters on a spacecraft is challenging.

Therefore, a need exists in the art for an improved way to control an operation of a spacecraft, for concurrent station keeping, attitude control and momentum management.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to controlling an operation of a spacecraft for concurrent control of an orbital position, orientation, and accumulated onboard momentum using a single set of thrusters. Along with providing a model predictive control (MPC) that can be implemented in an onboard control system of the spacecraft while considering various restrictions on the placement and/or range of rotations of the thrusters of the spacecraft.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a model predictive control (MPC) that can be implemented in an onboard control system of the spacecraft that considers various restrictions on a placement and/or range of rotations of thrusters of the spacecraft. Specifically, the MPC can produce a solution for controlling the thrusters of the spacecraft via a thruster controller, by optimizing a cost function over a finite receding horizon using a model of dynamics of the spacecraft that effects a pose of the spacecraft and a model of dynamics of momentum exchange devices of the spacecraft that effects an orientation of the spacecraft.

For example, the present disclosure is based on the recognition that the MPC can be optimized subject to hard constraints and soft constraints on angles of thrusts generated by the multiple thrusters of the spacecraft. Specifically, when the hard constraints require the angles of thrusts in a solution to fall within a predetermined range defined by the hard constraints, the soft constraints can penalize the solution for deviation of the angles of thrusts from nominal angles corresponding to a torque-free thrust that passes through a center of a mass of the spacecraft. At least one aspect of the MPC, among many aspects, is that the MPC can provide for a concurrent control of an orbital position, an orientation, and an accumulated onboard momentum of the spacecraft using the thruster controller that operate a single set of thrusters, in accordance with the solution of the MPC.

However, in coining to these realizations came with many challenges including how to address restrictions on the placement of thrusters on a spacecraft, so that antennas and solar panels may be deployed without the risk of thruster plume impingement. For example, restricting the placement of thrusters used for both station keeping and momentum unloading can preclude the thrusters to provide pure torques without also applying a net force on the satellite, or visa versa? In other words, this means that firing the thrusters can affect the spacecraft position and orientation (pose), as well as the stored momentum, creating a problem of concurrent station keeping, attitude control, and momentum management.

Initially, we needed to better understand the various disturbance forces that can affect a spacecraft's ability to maintain its station, in orbit. We knew that to counteract these various disturbance forces, the spacecraft's thrusters can be used for station keeping maneuvers. Also, in addition to orbital perturbations, the spacecraft can be disturbed by external torques that are generally absorbed by onboard momentum exchange devices, such as reaction wheels or control moment gyroscopes, allowing the spacecraft to maintain a desired orientation relative to the Earth or stars. Such that, in order to prevent saturation of the momentum exchange device, the stored angular momentum can be periodically unloaded via the onboard thrusters. However, at least one problem we faced included the combined station keeping and momentum unloading problem using the same set of thrusters results in multiple objectives, and methods for coordinating such objectives in order to achieve them concurrently.

Wherein we discovered a proposed solution that uses the MPC to provide an autonomous control that is implemented in an onboard control system, and can provide what appeared to be tighter and more accurate station keeping, attitude control, and momentum unloading. However, we later discovered our proposed solution faced many challenges, namely, as mentioned above, the restrictions on the placement of thrusters on a spacecraft so that antennas and solar panels may be deployed without the risk of thruster plume impingement. What we realized about our proposed solution, is that the restrictions on the placement and/or range of rotations of the thrusters can be considered by the MPC, as hard constraints on angles of the thrusts preventing the MPC to produce a solution violating such hard constraints. However, we learned that the hard constraints can be undesirable, and can lead to a complication of the dynamics of the spacecraft.

For example, the hard constraints on the angle of the thrusts can reduce efficiency of torque-free angles of the thrust prompting the solution of the MPC to generate thrusts providing both the net force and the torque on the spacecraft. These torque-inducing thrusts can lead to an unnecessary rotation of the spacecraft. The onboard momentum exchange devices can compensate for the unnecessary rotation of the spacecraft, wherein that compensation can be considered in the solution of the MPC. However, the dynamics of the momentum exchange devices can be slower than the dynamics of the thrusters and effects of the operation of the momentum exchange devices on the operation of the thrusters can fall outside of a prediction horizon of the MPC. To that end, the MPC can fail to provide suitable solution for both the pose of the spacecraft and accumulated onboard momentum, as noted above.

One solution to this problem we learned is to increase a length of the prediction horizon. For example, an MPC with infinite prediction horizon can consider such a variation in response of the dynamics of various components of the spacecraft. However, the MPC with infinite prediction horizon places a burden on computational requirements of the onboard controllers and is undesirable for the lengthy and the autonomous control expected from the spacecraft. To that end, some embodiments of the present disclosure control the spacecraft using the MPC with finite prediction horizon. For example, in one implementation, the finite prediction horizon can be 24 hours, which is considered a standard for the prediction control of a spacecraft.

Another solution to this problem is to force MPC to generate only torque-free thrusts when there is no need for the control of the orientation of the spacecraft. However, in some configurations of the spacecrafts, such torque-free thrusts can be suboptimal. For example, in some implementations, the thrusters that are mounted on gimbals attached to a spacecraft bus. The range of motion of the thrusters is limited due to potential for plume impingement on North-South mounted solar panels. Also, in North-South station keeping, thrusting in the out-of-plane radial direction is the dominant component in delta-v consumption. However, for the thrusters placed on the satellite's anti-nadir face, their torque-free angles of the thrusts, i.e., the angles forcing the thrusters to fire through the satellite's center of mass, results in much wasted effort in the radial direction. Thus, for delta-v efficiency the gimbals are often operated at their limits, generating undesirable torques on the satellite and unnecessarily burdening the momentum exchange devices. In turn, the momentum exchange devices, e.g., the reaction wheels, results in additional delta-v being expended on momentum management, due to limits on total angular momentum storage.

Further, some embodiments of the present disclosure are based on realization that the torque-inducing thrusts can be allowed, but discourage when the torque is unnecessary. To that end, some embodiments of the present disclosure, in addition to placing hard constraints on the angles of the thrusts, place soft constraints on the angle of the thrust penalizing deviation of the angles from the nominal angles corresponding to a torque-free thrust passing through a center of the mass of the spacecraft.

In the present disclosure, the term penalizing is used in a regular sense adopted by optimization and control community. For example, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the soft constraints are formulated as a component of a cost function optimized by the MPC subject to the hard constraints.

If the MPC minimizes the cost function, a value of that component increases proportionally, e.g., linearly or non-linearly, to a difference between the angles of the thrusts produced by the MPC and the nominal angles. Examples of such a cost function minimized by the MPC include a function considering a fuel efficiency of the spacecraft. In contrast, if the MPC maximizes the cost function, a value of the component decreases in proportionality with deviation from the nominal angle. Examples of such a cost function maximized by the MPC include a function considering time required to reach the target pose of the spacecraft.

Further still, some embodiments of the present disclosure disclose a control system for controlling an operation of a spacecraft including a model predictive controller (MPC) to produce a solution for controlling thrusters of the spacecraft and a thruster controller to operate the thrusters according to the solution of the MPC. The MPC produces the solution by optimizing a cost function over a finite receding horizon using a model of dynamics of the spacecraft effecting a pose of the spacecraft and a model of dynamics of momentum exchange devices of the spacecraft effecting an orientation of the spacecraft. The optimization is subject to hard constraints and soft constraints on angles of thrusts generated by thrusters of the spacecraft. The hard constraints require the angles of thrusts in the solution to fall within a predetermined range defined by the hard constraints. The soft constraints penalize the solution of the MPC for deviation of the angles of thrusts from nominal angles corresponding to a torque-free thrust passing through the center of the mass of the spacecraft.

In such a manner, the MPC tunes its solution without the need to extend the length of the prediction horizon. In addition, the MPC here is a multi-purpose MPC that considers both dynamics of the spacecraft effecting a pose of the spacecraft and the dynamics of momentum exchange devices of the spacecraft effecting an orientation of the spacecraft. For example, in some implementations the cost function includes a component for the pose of the spacecraft penalizing a displacement of the spacecraft from a target pose and a component for a momentum stored by the momentum exchange devices penalizing a larger value of a magnitude of the stored momentum. Additionally, or alternatively, the soft constraints can also be included in the MPC as a component of the cost function.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure are based on understanding that the soft constraints can compensate for the limitation of the finite receding horizon, but also can be used to facilitate approximation of the optimization of the MPC. For example, in several embodiments, the optimization of the cost function is formulated as a quadratic program (QP). Quadratic programs can be solved more quickly and efficiently in resource-constrained hardware such as spacecraft, which have limited onboard computational power. In order to take advantage of quadratic programs, some embodiments of the present disclosure use a linear-quadratic formulation of the MPC, refereed herein as LQ-MPC. The LQ-MPC utilizes a prediction model of the spacecraft based on linearized orbital and linearized attitude dynamic equations around the spacecraft's nominal operating condition. Such a linearization further effect the accuracy of the MPC solution. However, the soft constraints help to maintain a balance between the accuracy of the MPC solution and the simplicity of the optimization of the cost function by the MPC.

Additionally, some embodiments of the present disclosure can be based on recognition that the MPC that considers both dynamics of the spacecraft effecting a pose of the spacecraft and the dynamics of momentum exchange devices of the spacecraft effecting an orientation of the spacecraft needs to consider differences of station keeping and orientation dynamics. This is especially the concern for the spacecraft having restrictions on the placement and/or range of rotations of the thrusters of the spacecraft, e.g., having thrusters located on a single face of the spacecraft, where forces and torques acting on the spacecraft are highly coupled.

Further, some embodiments of the present disclosure can consider effects that the MPC has on both the position and the orientation of the spacecraft. Notably, the soft constraints on the angle of the thrusts allows for decoupling of those effects. For example, some embodiments of the present disclosure consider differences in the time-scales of station keeping (position control) and orientation dynamics (attitude control). For example, for some orbits, the time-scale of station keeping is significantly slower than the time-scale of attitude control, and a single MPC that solves both at the frequent state-sampling and control-inputs-computation required by the orientation dynamics while having long horizon of prediction required by station keeping is computationally burdensome.

Further still, some embodiments of the present disclosure can employ a bi-level control scheme. For example, some embodiments of the present disclosure control the spacecraft orientation using an inner loop control of the orientation of the spacecraft and use the outer-loop control, e.g., MPC, to control the pose of the spacecraft and a momentum stored by momentum exchange devices of the spacecraft. Because the inner and outer controls have different time scales due to the specifics of the spacecraft control, the inner loop control is decoupled from the outer-loop control, and the outer-loop control uses model including dynamics of the inner-loop control to account for the effects of the inner-loop control. Also, some embodiments of the present disclosure can be based on another recognition that the negative effect of the restrictions on the angle of the thrusts can be addressed by mechanical design of the spacecraft reducing or minimizing such a restriction.

For example, one embodiment can mount the thrusters on gimbaled boom assemblies attached to the anti-nadir face of the satellite. The boom-thruster assemblies increase the range of rotation of the thrusters without risk of plume impingement. In such a manner, the nominal torque-free angles can be expended radially. Also, displacing the thrusters on booms away from the main spacecraft body, allows the gimbaling to align with the North-South axis, which makes both larger torques and efficient station keeping possible.

However, in a practical implementation of such gimbaled boom assemblies, each assembly mounts at least a pair of thruster on the same gimbal, making the rotation of the thrusters in each pair dependent on each other. That is, a rotation of each thruster is controlled by the rotation of the gimbal, and thus the rotation of one thruster necessitates the rotation of all thrusters mounted on the gimbal, i.e., all thrusters mounted on the same gimbaled boom assembly share the same gimbal angle. In theory, MPC can handle such a configuration of the thrusters within the model of dynamics of the spacecraft effecting the pose of the spacecraft with a constraint joining the angles of the thrusters. However, such a model of dynamics results in a non-linear optimization problem. The non-linear MPC can be undesirable for some onboard control systems with limited computational and memory capability.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure can be based on recognition that removal of the constraint requiring joint and/or dependent rotation of the thrusters mounted on the same gimbal reduces the complexity of MPC and can result in the MPC solving a linear optimization problem. However, such a simplification can lead to an unfeasible solution when two thrusters sharing the same gimbal angle need to thrust at the same time, but with different angles of thrusts. However, some embodiments of the present disclosure are based on realization that such infeasible solution can be handled by a post-MPC modulation process that decouples the thrusters sharing the same gimbal angle allowing the thrusters to thrust at different times. For example, while some advanced electric propulsion systems can throttle continuous thrust, a vast majority of thrusters remains ON-OFF in nature. In addition, power limitations may limit the number of thrusters that can be ON at the same time. To that end, some embodiments of the present disclosure are based on realization that ON-OFF modulation can force the thrusters sharing the same gimbal angle to thrust at different times without sacrificing their ON-OFF performance.

Specifically, an MPC solution can produce constant thrust magnitudes to be generated by the thrusters sharing the same gimbal angle over a period of a control step. For example, in some implementations, that period is one hour. Some embodiments of the present disclosure modulate or encode these thrust magnitudes into pulse signals specifying ON and OFF state of each thruster within the period of the control step. The thrusters generate the thrust of a predetermined magnitude when the state of the thrust is ON, and do not generate any thrust when the state of the thruster is OFF. The average magnitude of the thrust of each modulated signal equals the corresponding magnitude of the thrust requested by the MPC solution. Some embodiments of the present disclosure modulate the thrust magnitudes such that the ON states of the thrusters sharing the same gimbal angle do not intersect in time.

Such a mutually exclusive time modulation allows the gimbal to rotate mounted thrusters to the angel of the thruster currently scheduled to have ON state. For example, one embodiment augments the MPC with a closed-loop pulse-width modulation (PWM) scheme that quantizes a requested thrust value to be either fully on or fully off at a predetermined frequency. The width, or duty cycle, of the pulse is specified by the continuous thrust request from the MPC policy and the predetermined frequency.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, a spacecraft including a spacecraft bus and a set of thrusters for changing a pose of the spacecraft. Wherein at least two thrusters are mounted on a gimbaled boom assembly connecting the two thrusters with the spacecraft bus, such that the two thrusters are coupled thrusters sharing the same gimbal angle. A set of momentum exchange devices for absorbing disturbance torques acting on the spacecraft. A model predictive controller (MPC) to produce a solution for controlling thrusters of the spacecraft by optimizing a cost function over a receding horizon using a model of dynamics of the spacecraft effecting a pose of the spacecraft and a model of dynamics of the momentum exchange devices of the spacecraft effecting an orientation of the spacecraft. Wherein the model of dynamics of the spacecraft allows mutually independent rotation of the coupled thrusters violating mechanics of the gimbaled boom assembly. A modulator to modulate magnitudes of the thrust of the coupled thrusters determined by the MPC as pulse signals specifying ON and OFF states of each of the coupled thruster, such that the ON states of the coupled thrusters sharing the same gimbal angle do not intersect in time. A thruster controller to operate the thrusters according to their corresponding pulse signals.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, a spacecraft including a spacecraft bus and a set of thrusters for changing a pose of the spacecraft. Wherein at least two thrusters are mounted on a gimbaled boom assembly connecting the two thrusters with the spacecraft bus, such that the two thrusters are coupled thrusters sharing the same gimbal angle. A set of momentum exchange devices for absorbing disturbance torques acting on the spacecraft. A model predictive controller (MPC) to produce a solution for controlling thrusters of the spacecraft by optimizing a cost function over a receding horizon using a model of dynamics of the spacecraft effecting a pose of the spacecraft and a model of dynamics of the momentum exchange devices of the spacecraft effecting an orientation of the spacecraft. A modulator to modulate magnitudes of the thrust of the coupled thrusters determined by the MPC as pulse signals specifying ON and OFF states of each of the coupled thruster, such that the ON states of the coupled thrusters sharing the same gimbal angle do not intersect in time. A thruster controller to operate the thrusters according to their corresponding pulse signals.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, a control system for controlling an operation of a spacecraft. The control system includes a model predictive controller (MPC) to produce a solution for controlling a set of thrusters of the spacecraft by optimizing a cost function over a receding horizon using a model of dynamics of the spacecraft effecting a pose of the spacecraft and a model of dynamics of a set of momentum exchange devices of the spacecraft effecting an orientation of the spacecraft. Wherein the set of thrusters of the spacecraft change a pose of the spacecraft, such that at least two thrusters are mounted on a gimbaled boom assembly of the spacecraft connecting the at least two thrusters with the spacecraft bus, such that the at least two thrusters are coupled thrusters sharing a same gimbal angle. Wherein the set of momentum exchange devices are capable of absorbing disturbance torques acting on the spacecraft. Wherein the model of dynamics of the spacecraft allows mutually independent rotation of the coupled thrusters violating mechanics of the gimbaled boom assembly; A modulator in communication with the MPC, to modulate magnitudes of the thrust of the coupled thrusters determined by the MPC as pulse signals specifying ON and OFF states of each of the coupled thruster, such that the ON states of the coupled thrusters sharing the same gimbal angle do not intersect in time. A thruster controller to operate the thrusters according to their corresponding pulse signals.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The presently disclosed embodiments will be further explained with reference to the attached drawings. The drawings shown are not necessarily to scale, with emphasis instead generally being placed upon illustrating the principles of the presently disclosed embodiments.

FIG. 1A is a block diagram illustrating a method for controlling an operation of a spacecraft according to a model of the spacecraft, according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 1B is a block diagram illustrating a structure of the controller of FIG. 1A, according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 1C is a schematic illustrating the controller of FIG. 1A with the spacecraft in outer space, according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 1D is the schematic illustrating the controller with the spacecraft in outer space of FIG. 1C, wherein the spacecraft is to remain within a window with specified dimensions around the desired position 165, according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 1E is a schematic illustrating Euler Angles between the spacecraft-fixed reference frame and the desired reference frame, according to embodiments of the present disclosure, according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 1F are graphs illustrating the Euler Angles that remain within limits during the momentum unloading process, according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an inner-outer loop controller for controlling an operation of a spacecraft, according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating some modules that can be part of the outer-loop control system, according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustrating a disturbance prediction problem, according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5A is a schematic illustrating the predicted value of the momentum exchange device during a prediction horizon, according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5B is a block diagram illustrating a solution wherein the cost function is augmented with a component for penalizing torques generated by the thrusters, according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of illustrating the method of FIG. 1A, that can be implemented using an alternate computer or processor, according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a schematic of the disturbance prediction problem, according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8A is a schematic of the spacecraft with gimbaled boom assemblies where each assembly mounts a pair of thrusters on the same gimbal, making the rotation of the thrusters in each pair dependent on each other which portrays a specific modulation scheme, according to embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 8B is a schematic of a different modulation scheme from FIG. 8A, according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

While the above-identified drawings set forth presently disclosed embodiments, other embodiments are also contemplated, as noted in the discussion. This disclosure presents illustrative embodiments by way of representation and not limitation. Numerous other modifications and embodiments can be devised by those skilled in the art which fall within the scope and spirit of the principles of the presently disclosed embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description provides exemplary embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the disclosure. Rather, the following description of the exemplary embodiments will provide those skilled in the art with an enabling description for implementing one or more exemplary embodiments. Contemplated are various changes that may be made in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from the spirit and scope of the subject matter disclosed as set forth in the appended claims.

Specific details are given in the following description to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, understood by one of ordinary skill in the art can be that the embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. For example, systems, processes, and other elements in the subject matter disclosed may be shown as components in block diagram form in order not to obscure the embodiments in unnecessary detail. In other instances, well-known processes, structures, and techniques may be shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring the embodiments. Further, like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicated like elements.

Also, individual embodiments may be described as a process which is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a data flow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchart may describe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations may be re-arranged. A process may be terminated when its operations are completed, but may have additional steps not discussed or included in a figure. Furthermore, not all operations in any particularly described process may occur in all embodiments. A process may correspond to a method, a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. When a process corresponds to a function, the function's termination can correspond to a return of the function to the calling function or the main function.

Furthermore, embodiments of the subject matter disclosed may be implemented, at least in part, either manually or automatically. Manual or automatic implementations may be executed, or at least assisted, through the use of machines, hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description languages, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, firmware, middleware or microcode, the program code or code segments to perform the necessary tasks may be stored in a machine readable medium. A processor(s) may perform the necessary tasks.

Overview

Embodiments of present disclosure are directed to controlling an operation of a spacecraft for concurrent control of an orbital position, orientation, and accumulated onboard momentum using a single set of thrusters. Along with providing a model predictive control (MPC) that can be implemented in an onboard control system of the spacecraft while considering various restrictions on the placement and/or range of rotations of the thrusters of the spacecraft.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a model predictive control (MPC) that can be implemented in an onboard control system of the spacecraft that considers various restrictions on a placement and/or range of rotations of thrusters of the spacecraft. Specifically, the MPC can produce a solution for controlling the thrusters of the spacecraft via a thruster controller, by optimizing a cost function over a finite receding horizon using a model of dynamics of the spacecraft that effects a pose of the spacecraft and a model of dynamics of momentum exchange devices of the spacecraft that effects an orientation of the spacecraft.

For example, the present disclosure is based on the recognition that the MPC can be optimized subject to hard constraints and soft constraints on angles of thrusts generated by the multiple thrusters of the spacecraft. Specifically, when the hard constraints require the angles of thrusts in a solution to fall within a predetermined range defined by the hard constraints, the soft constraints can penalize the solution for deviation of the angles of thrusts from nominal angles corresponding to a torque-free thrust that passes through a center of a mass of the spacecraft. At least one aspect of the MPC, among many aspects, is that the MPC can provide for a concurrent control of an orbital position, an orientation, and an accumulated onboard momentum of the spacecraft using the thruster controller that operate a single set of thrusters, in accordance with the solution of the MPC.

Initially, we discovered a proposed solution from experimentation that uses the MPC to provide an autonomous control which is implemented in an onboard control system, and can provide what appeared to be tighter and more accurate station keeping, attitude control, and momentum unloading. However, we later discovered our proposed solution faced many challenges, namely, as mentioned above, the restrictions on the placement of thrusters on a spacecraft so that antennas and solar panels may be deployed without the risk of thruster plume impingement. What we realized about our proposed solution, is that the restrictions on the placement and/or range of rotations of the thrusters can be considered by the MPC, as hard constraints on angles of the thrusts preventing the MPC to produce a solution violating such hard constraints. However, we discovered that the hard constraints can be undesirable, and can lead to a complication of the dynamics of the spacecraft.

For example, the hard constraints on the angle of the thrusts can reduce efficiency of torque-free angles of the thrust prompting the solution of the MPC to generate thrusts providing both the net force and the torque on the spacecraft. These torque-inducing thrusts can lead to an unnecessary rotation of the spacecraft. The onboard momentum exchange devices can compensate for the unnecessary rotation of the spacecraft, wherein that compensation can be considered in the solution of the MPC. However, the dynamics of the momentum exchange devices can be slower than the dynamics of the thrusters and effects of the operation of the momentum exchange devices on the operation of the thrusters can fall outside of a prediction horizon of the MPC. To that end, the MPC can fail to provide suitable solution for both the pose of the spacecraft and accumulated onboard momentum, as noted above.

One solution to this problem we learned is to increase a length of the prediction horizon. For example, an MPC with infinite prediction horizon can consider such a variation in response of the dynamics of various components of the spacecraft. However, the MPC with infinite prediction horizon places a burden on computational requirements of the onboard controllers and is undesirable for the lengthy and the autonomous control expected from the spacecraft. To that end, some embodiments of the present disclosure control the spacecraft using the MPC with finite prediction horizon. For example, in one implementation, the finite prediction horizon can be 24 hours, which is considered a standard for the prediction control of a spacecraft.

Another solution to this problem is to force MPC to generate only torque-free thrusts when there is no need for the control of the orientation of the spacecraft. However, in some configurations of the spacecrafts, such torque-free thrusts can be suboptimal. For example, in some implementations, the thrusters that are mounted on gimbals attached to a spacecraft bus. The range of motion of the thrusters is limited due to potential for plume impingement on North-South mounted solar panels. Also, in North-South station keeping, thrusting in the out-of-plane radial direction is the dominant component in delta-v consumption. However, for the thrusters placed on the satellite's anti-nadir face, their torque-free angles of the thrusts, i.e., the angles forcing the thrusters to fire through the satellite's center of mass, results in much wasted effort in the radial direction. Thus, for delta-v efficiency the gimbals are often operated at their limits, generating undesirable torques on the satellite and unnecessarily burdening the momentum exchange devices. In turn, the momentum exchange devices, e.g., the reaction wheels, results in additional delta-v being expended on momentum management, due to limits on total angular momentum storage.

For example, some embodiments of the present disclosure are based on realization that the torque-inducing thrusts can be allowed, but discourage when the torque is unnecessary. To that end, some embodiments of the present disclosure, in addition to placing hard constraints on the angles of the thrusts, place soft constraints on the angle of the thrust penalizing deviation of the angles from the nominal angles corresponding to a torque-free thrust passing through a center of the mass of the spacecraft.

In the present disclosure, the term penalizing is used in a regular sense adopted by optimization and control community. For example, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the soft constraints are formulated as a component of a cost function optimized by the MPC subject to the hard constraints. If the MPC minimizes the cost function, a value of that component increases proportionally, e.g., linearly or non-linearly, to a difference between the angles of the thrusts produced by the MPC and the nominal angles. Examples of such a cost function minimized by the MPC include a function considering a fuel efficiency of the spacecraft. In contrast, if the MPC maximizes the cost function, a value of the component decreases in proportionality with deviation from the nominal angle. Examples of such a cost function maximized by the MPC include a function considering time required to reach the target pose of the spacecraft.

Further, some embodiments of the present disclosure disclose a control system for controlling an operation of a spacecraft including a model predictive controller (MPC) to produce a solution for controlling thrusters of the spacecraft and a thruster controller to operate the thrusters according to the solution of the MPC. The MPC produces the solution by optimizing a cost function over a finite receding horizon using a model of dynamics of the spacecraft effecting a pose of the spacecraft and a model of dynamics of momentum exchange devices of the spacecraft effecting an orientation of the spacecraft. The optimization is subject to hard constraints and soft constraints on angles of thrusts generated by thrusters of the spacecraft. The hard constraints require the angles of thrusts in the solution to fall within a predetermined range defined by the hard constraints. The soft constraints penalize the solution of the MPC for deviation of the angles of thrusts from nominal angles corresponding to a torque-free thrust passing through the center of the mass of the spacecraft.

In such a manner, the MPC tunes its solution without the need to extend the length of the prediction horizon. In addition, the MPC here is a multi-purpose MPC that considers both dynamics of the spacecraft effecting a pose of the spacecraft and the dynamics of momentum exchange devices of the spacecraft effecting an orientation of the spacecraft. For example, in some implementations the cost function includes a component for the pose of the spacecraft penalizing a displacement of the spacecraft from a target pose and a component for a momentum stored by the momentum exchange devices penalizing a larger value of a magnitude of the stored momentum. Additionally, or alternatively, the soft constraints can also be included in the MPC as a component of the cost function.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure are based on understanding that the soft constraints can compensate for the limitation of the finite receding horizon, but also can be used to facilitate approximation of the optimization of the MPC. For example, in several embodiments, the optimization of the cost function is formulated as a quadratic program (QP). Quadratic programs can be solved more quickly and efficiently in resource-constrained hardware such as spacecraft, which have limited onboard computational power. In order to take advantage of quadratic programs, some embodiments of the present disclosure use a linear-quadratic formulation of the MPC, refereed herein as LQ-MPC. The LQ-MPC utilizes a prediction model of the spacecraft based on linearized orbital and linearized attitude dynamic equations around the spacecraft's nominal operating condition. Such a linearization further effects the accuracy of the MPC solution. However, the soft constraints help to maintain a balance between the accuracy of the MPC solution and the simplicity of the optimization of the cost function by the MPC.

Additionally, some embodiments of the present disclosure can be based on recognition that the MPC that considers both dynamics of the spacecraft effecting a pose of the spacecraft and the dynamics of momentum exchange devices of the spacecraft effecting an orientation of the spacecraft needs to consider differences of station keeping and orientation dynamics. This is especially the concern for the spacecraft having restrictions on the placement and/or range of rotations of the thrusters of the spacecraft, e.g., having thrusters located on a single face of the spacecraft, where forces and torques acting on the spacecraft are highly coupled.

Further, some embodiments of the present disclosure can consider effects that the MPC has on both the position and the orientation of the spacecraft. Notably, the soft constraints on the angle of the thrusts allows for decoupling of those effects. For example, some embodiments of the present disclosure consider differences in the time-scales of station keeping (position control) and orientation dynamics (attitude control). For example, for some orbits, the time-scale of station keeping is significantly slower than the time-scale of attitude control, and a single MPC that solves both at the frequent state-sampling and

control-inputs-computation required by the orientation dynamics while having long horizon of prediction required by station keeping is computationally burdensome.

Further still, some embodiments of the present disclosure can employ a bi-level control scheme. For example, some embodiments of the present disclosure control the spacecraft orientation using an inner loop control of the orientation of the spacecraft and use the outer-loop control, e.g., MPC, to control the pose of the spacecraft and a momentum stored by momentum exchange devices of the spacecraft. Because the inner and outer controls have different time scales due to the specifics of the spacecraft control, the inner loop control is decoupled from the outer-loop control, and the outer-loop control uses model including dynamics of the inner-loop control to account for the effects of the inner-loop control. Also, some embodiments of the present disclosure can be based on another recognition that the negative effect of the restrictions on the angle of the thrusts can be addressed by mechanical design of the spacecraft reducing or minimizing such a restriction.

For example, at least one embodiment can mount the thrusters on gimbaled boom assemblies attached to the anti-nadir face of the satellite. The boom-thruster assemblies increase the range of rotation of the thrusters without risk of plume impingement. In such a manner, the nominal torque-free angles can be expended radially. Also, displacing the thrusters on booms away from the main spacecraft body, allows the gimbaling to align with the North-South axis, which makes both larger torques and efficient station keeping possible. However, in a practical implementation of such gimbaled boom assemblies, each assembly mounts at least a pair of thruster on the same gimbal, making the rotation of the thrusters in each pair dependent on each other. That is, a rotation of each thruster is controlled by the rotation of the gimbal, and thus the rotation of one thruster necessitates the rotation of all thrusters mounted on the gimbal, i.e., all thrusters mounted on the same gimbaled boom assembly share the same gimbal angle. In theory, MPC can handle such a configuration of the thrusters within the model of dynamics of the spacecraft effecting the pose of the spacecraft with a constraint joining the angles of the thrusters. However, such a model of dynamics results in a non-linear optimization problem. The non-linear MPC can be undesirable for some onboard control systems with limited computational and memory capability.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure can be based on recognition that removal of the constraint requiring joint and/or dependent rotation of the thrusters mounted on the same gimbal reduces the complexity of MPC and can result in the MPC solving a linear optimization problem. However, such a simplification can lead to an unfeasible solution when two thrusters sharing the same gimbal angle need to thrust at the same time, but with different angles of thrusts. However, some embodiments of the present disclosure are based on realization that such infeasible solution can be handled by a post-MPC modulation process that decouples the thrusters sharing the same gimbal angle allowing the thrusters to thrust at different times. For example, while some advanced electric propulsion systems can throttle continuous thrust, a vast majority of thrusters remains ON-OFF in nature. In addition, power limitations may limit the number of thrusters that can be ON at the same time. To that end, some embodiments of the present disclosure are based on realization that ON-OFF modulation can force the thrusters sharing the same gimbal angle to thrust at different times without sacrificing their ON-OFF performance.

Specifically, an MPC solution can produce constant thrust magnitudes to be generated by the thrusters sharing the same gimbal angle over a period of a control step. For example, in some implementations, that period is one hour. Some embodiments of the present disclosure modulate or encode these thrust magnitudes into pulse signals specifying ON and OFF state of each thruster within the period of the control step. The thrusters generate the thrust of a predetermined magnitude when the state of the thrust is ON, and do not generate any thrust when the state of the thruster is OFF. The average magnitude of the thrust of each modulated signal equals the corresponding magnitude of the thrust requested by the MPC solution. Some embodiments of the present disclosure modulate the thrust magnitudes such that the ON states of the thrusters sharing the same gimbal angle do not intersect in time.

Such a mutually exclusive time modulation allows the gimbal to rotate mounted thrusters to the angel of the thruster currently scheduled to have ON state. For example, at least one embodiment augments the MPC with a closed-loop pulse-width modulation (PWM) scheme that quantizes a requested thrust value to be either fully on or fully off at a predetermined frequency. The width, or duty cycle, of the pulse is specified by the continuous thrust request from the MPC policy and the predetermined frequency.

Referring to FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, FIG. 1A is a block diagram illustrating a method 100A for controlling an operation of a spacecraft, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 1B is a block diagram illustrating some components of the method 100A of FIG. 1A, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Method 100A controls iteratively the operation of the spacecraft with control inputs determined using a model of the spacecraft based on an optimization of a cost function.

Method 100A in FIG. 1A, initially begins with step 110 determining a current state of the spacecraft, of which, the current state of the spacecraft can be determined using sensors (108 of FIG. 1B), or other aspects such as hardware or software. In addition, the current state of the spacecraft can be obtained from communication with a ground command center located on Earth or another spacecraft located in outer space, e.g. GPS, relative range measurements, star trackers, horizon sensors, or the like. It is also possible to determine the current spacecraft state based on a previous control input determined for a previous iteration that is optimized with a previous cost function using a previous model of the spacecraft.

The next step 120 of FIG. 1A can be updating spacecraft model. Wherein, the spacecraft model update step 120 can include linearization of the spacecraft model at the desired target location on a target orbit for the current time instant and over a future prediction horizon. The spacecraft model update step 120 can also compute predicted disturbance forces over the same horizon at the target location and combines it with the dynamics prediction model to form an overall prediction. Finally, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the spacecraft model update step 120 can also update a stability component of the cost function to the correct value for the current time instant and over a future prediction horizon.

Next, the method step 130 determines a current control input for controlling the spacecraft at the current iteration using the current model and the current cost function. For example, the method uses the updated current cost function and current spacecraft model for step 132 to determine a sequence of future inputs of thruster forces from the current time instant for a fixed amount of time in the future, so long as to at least obtain a new spacecraft state measurement. So that, the predicted future spacecraft states and inputs satisfy the constraints on the operation of the spacecraft and constraints on the control inputs. The next step 134, includes the first part of the input sequence, for a duration equal to an amount of time needed to obtain a new measurement of the state of the spacecraft. Which is selected and applied to the next step 136, as the current control input to the spacecraft. Based on the determined current state of the spacecraft step 110, the current updated model of the spacecraft step 120, and the determined current control input step 130 to the spacecraft, a next state of the spacecraft is determined, and at step 140, the controller waits until a new state measurement is received.

FIG. 1B is a block diagram illustrating some components of the controller for implementing the method of FIG. 1A, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Method 100A can include a control system or controller 101 that has at least one processor 113 for executing modules of the controller. The controller 101 can be in communication with a processor 113 and a memory 119. Wherein the memory can have at least one stored thereon including the cost function 121, the spacecraft model 123, an inner loop 125, an outer loop 127 and the constraints 129. Wherein the modules of the controller can be part of either the inner loop 125 and the outer loop 127. The constraints can represent physical limitations of the spacecraft 102, safety limitations on the operation of the spacecraft 102, and performance limitations on a trajectory of the spacecraft 102.

Further, method 100A can determine control inputs 107 via the processor 113, using the model of the spacecraft 123 subject to the constraints. Wherein the determined control inputs 107 can be sent to the spacecraft 102. Further the spacecraft 102 can have thrusters 103, momentum exchange devices 105 and sensors 107, among other components. Wherein, the current state 106 of the spacecraft 102 can be obtained from the sensors 107 and communicated to the processor 113. Wherein the controller 101 can receive desired inputs 133 for the spacecraft 102 via the processor 113.

In at least one embodiment, the processor 113 can determine and/or update at least one of the cost function 121, the spacecraft model 123, the constraints 129 during the control. For example, the control system 101 can execute method 100A that controls iteratively the operation of the spacecraft 102 with control inputs of step 130 of FIG. 1A determined using the model 123 of the spacecraft, based on an optimization of a cost function. It is possible that method 100A could also be executed by the controller 101 based on a previously iteratively operation of the spacecraft 102, i.e. from a previously iterative control operation having a previous control input determined for a previous iteration that is optimized by a previous cost function using a previous model of the spacecraft.

Referring to FIG. 1C and FIG. 1D, wherein FIG. 1C is a schematic illustrating the controller of FIG. 1A with the spacecraft in outer space, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 1D is the schematic illustrating the controller with the spacecraft in outer space of FIG. 1C, wherein the spacecraft is to remain within a window with specified dimensions around a desired position 165, according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

For example, FIG. 1C and FIG. 1D show the spacecraft 102 equipped with a plurality of actuators such as thrusters 105 and momentum exchange devices 105. Examples of the type of momentum exchange devices 105 can include reaction wheels (RWs) and gyroscopes. The spacecraft 102 can be a vehicle, vessel, or machine designed to fly in outer space whose operation changes quantities such as the position of the spacecraft, its velocities, and its attitude or orientation, in response to commands that are sent to the actuators 103. When commanded, the actuators 103 impart forces on the spacecraft 102 that increase or decrease the velocity of the spacecraft 102. Thus cause the spacecraft 102 to translate its position, and, when commanded, the actuators 103 also impart torques on the spacecraft 102. The imparted torque can cause the spacecraft 102 to rotate, and thereby change its attitude or orientation. As used herein, the operation of the spacecraft 102 can be determined by the operation of the actuators 103 that determine a motion of the spacecraft 102 that changes such quantities.

Still referring to FIG. 1C and FIG. 1D, the spacecraft 102 flies in outer space along an open or closed orbital path 160 around, between, or near one or more gravitational bodies, such as the Earth 161, moon, and/or other celestial planets, stars, asteroids, comets. Usually, a desired or target position 165 along the orbital path is given. A reference frame 170 is attached to the desired position 165, where the origin of the frame, i.e., the all zeros coordinates in that reference frame 170 are the coordinates of the desired position 165 at all times, and

,

,

, are standard unit vectors representing the axes of the reference frame.

The spacecraft 102 can be subject to various disturbance forces 114. These disturbance forces 114 can include forces that were not accounted for when determining the orbital path 160 for the spacecraft 102. These disturbance forces 114 act on the spacecraft 102 to move the spacecraft 102 away from the desired position on the orbital path 160. These disturbance forces 114 can include, but are not limited to, gravitational attraction, radiation pressure, atmospheric drag, non-spherical central bodies, and leaking propellant. Thus, the spacecraft 102 can be at a distance 167 away from the target position 165.

Still referring to FIG. 1C and FIG. 1D, because of the disturbance forces 114, it is not always possible to keep the spacecraft 102 at the desired position 165 along its orbit 160. As such, it is desired that the spacecraft 102 instead remain within a window 166 with specified dimensions 104 around the desired position 165. To that end, the spacecraft 102 is controlled to move along any path 106 that is contained within the window 166. In this example, the window 166 has a rectangular shape, but the shape of the window 166 can vary for different embodiments.

The spacecraft 102 is also often required to maintain a desired orientation. For example, a spacecraft-fixed reference frame 174 is required to be aligned with a desired reference frame such as an inertial reference frame 171 that is fixed relative to distant stars 172, or a reference frame 173 that is always oriented in a manner that points towards the Earth 161. However, depending on the shape of the spacecraft 102, different disturbance forces 114 can act non-uniformly on the spacecraft 102, thereby generating disturbance torques, which cause the spacecraft 102 to rotate away from its desired orientation. In order to compensate for the disturbance torques, momentum exchange devices 105 such as reaction wheels are used to absorb the disturbance torques, thus allowing the spacecraft 102 to maintain its desired orientation. So that the momentum exchange devices 105 do not saturate, and thereby lose the ability to compensate for disturbance torques, their stored momentum must be unloaded, e.g., by reducing spin rates of the reaction wheels. Unloading the momentum exchange devices 105 imparts an undesired torque on the spacecraft 102. Such an undesired torque can also be compensated for by the thrusters 103.

FIG. 1E is a schematic illustrating Euler Angles 175 between the spacecraft-fixed reference frame 174 and the desired reference frame 171, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 1F are graphs illustrating the Euler Angles 175 to remain within limits 176 during the momentum unloading process, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, some embodiments of the present disclosure control the spacecraft 102 such that the Euler Angles 175 remain within limits 176 (FIG. 1F) during the momentum unloading process. The thrusters 103 may be gimbaled in order to allow them to rotate a fixed amount from their nominal alignment with a spacecraft frame.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a dual loop controller for controlling an operation of a spacecraft, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The motion of the spacecraft 102 is affected by disturbance forces and torques 114. For example, the dual loop controller includes an inner-loop feedback control 125 controlling part of the operation of a spacecraft 102, for example, the orientation 174 (FIG. 1E) of the spacecraft-fixed frame relative to a desired frame 171. The steps of the method can be implemented using a processor, e.g., the processor 113 (of FIG. 1B) in communication with the controller 101, another processor of the spacecraft and/or a remote processor.

The inner loop control system 125 can receive information 204 about the spacecraft 102, which is a subset of the total information 106 about the spacecraft motion, from sensors 107 of FIG. 1B, hardware, or software connected directly or remotely to the spacecraft 102. The information 106 includes a state of the spacecraft motion. The subset 204 is relevant for the inner-loop feedback control 125 and is used to generate commands 209 that in the case of orientation (attitude) control are commands to the momentum exchange devices 105 of FIG. 1B. Also shown, is an outer loop control system 127 for controlling the operation of a spacecraft 102. The outer loop control system 127 receives a target operation, e.g., a desired motion 133 for the spacecraft 102, such as a desired trajectory or a target point for some of the quantities, and controls the spacecraft via control inputs 107. The control inputs 107 can include commands to change parameters of the operation of the spacecraft 102 or can include actual values of the parameters such as voltages, pressures, torques, forces that affect the spacecraft.

Still referring to FIG. 2, the control inputs 107 together with the commands 209 form an input 211 to the spacecraft 102 and induce a motion resulting in the generation of quantities 205 for the spacecraft. For example, the input 211 can optionally be formed by a mapper 274. For example, the mapper 274 can combine the unmodified signals 107 and 209 to form the input 211. Additionally, the mapper 274 can determine commands to individual thrusters 103 (FIGS. 1B & 1C) from a total commanded forces and torques for the spacecraft 102, so that the thrusters 103 altogether impart the desired force and torques 107 to the spacecraft 102. The mapper 274 can pass the commands to the onboard momentum exchange devices 105 (FIGS. 1B & 1C) without changing them along with the individual thruster commands as the current control input 204.

The outer-loop control system 127 also receives information 106 about the spacecraft motion. The outer-loop control system 127 uses the state for the selection of the control inputs 107. The information 106 can include some or all of the motion quantities 205 and can also include additional information about the spacecraft 102. The quantities 205, the control inputs 107 or a combination thereof, can be requested to remain in some pre-defined ranges according to constraints 129 on the operation of the spacecraft 102.

Still referring to FIG. 2, some embodiments of the present disclosure determine the commands 107 to the thrusters 103 (FIGS. 1B & 1C) and the control inputs 209 to the momentum exchange devices 105 so that the spacecraft 102 simultaneously stays within a box 166 (FIGS. 1C & 1D), has its Euler Angles 175 (FIG. 1E) remain within limits 176 (FIG. 1F), and unloads excess stored momentum. This is done by implementing an automatic outer-loop control system 127 that uses a model of the spacecraft 123 in conjunction with an inner-loop feedback control system 125. For example, some embodiments of the present disclosure determine control inputs for controlling thrusters of the spacecraft using an optimization of a cost function over a receding horizon subject to constraints 129 on a pose of the spacecraft and inputs to the thrusters 103 (FIGS. 1B & 1C) and generate appropriate control input commands 107. The pose of the spacecraft includes one or combination of an absolute or relative position and orientation of the spacecraft. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the cost function includes a component for controlling the pose of the spacecraft and a component for unloading a momentum stored by the momentum exchange devices.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure include the inner-loop feedback control system 125 using sensor measurements 204 to determine the current orientation of the spacecraft and sends commands 209 to actuators 103, such as momentum exchange devices 105, in order to reduce the error between the current spacecraft orientation and the target orientation of the spacecraft. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the inner-loop controller 125 applies proportional, integral, and derivative (PID) gains on the error between the current spacecraft orientation and the target orientation of the spacecraft as a feedback command 209 to the actuators 103. In other embodiments, the error between the current spacecraft orientation and the target orientation of the spacecraft may be reduced using adaptive attitude controllers that generate a feedback command 209 based on internal states that estimate uncertain spacecraft parameters, e.g. moments and products of inertia.

Still referring to FIG. 2, in some other embodiments, the inner-loop feedback control system 125 takes the form of an SO(3)-based attitude controller that encodes the error between the current spacecraft orientation and the target orientation of the spacecraft as a rotation matrix. The SO(3)-based attitude controller may provide almost-global asymptotic stability for attitude tracking problems, be an easily implementable feedback controller, and provide for disturbance rejection by providing infinite feedback gain at disturbance frequencies. The target orientation of the spacecraft may be an inertially-fixed orientation or it may be a specially changing orientation, e.g. one that evolves in a manner that always points at the Earth.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the outer-loop control system 127 achieves the control using a model predictive control (MPC) over a receding horizon. The MPC is based on an iterative, finite horizon optimization based on a model of the spacecraft including a component modeling the inner-loop feedback control, a set of objectives of the motion of the spacecraft, and constraints on the spacecraft propulsion system and motion, and has the ability to anticipate future events and consequently to take appropriate control actions. This is achieved by optimizing the operation of the spacecraft according the set of objectives, over a future finite time-horizon with prediction obtained according to the model of the spacecraft subject to constraints, and only implementing the control over the current timeslot.

Still referring to FIG. 2, for example, the constraints 129 can represent physical limitations of the spacecraft 102, safety limitations on the operation of the spacecraft, and performance limitations on a trajectory of the spacecraft. A control strategy for the spacecraft is admissible when the motion generated by the spacecraft for such a control strategy satisfies all the constraints. For example, at time t, the current state of the spacecraft is sampled and an admissible cost minimizing control strategy is determined for a relatively short time horizon in the future. Specifically, an online or real-time calculation determines a cost-minimizing control strategy until time t+T. After the first step of the control is implemented, the state is measured or estimated again and the calculations are repeated starting from the now current state, yielding a new control and new predicted state trajectory. The prediction horizon shifts forward, and for this reason MPC is also called receding horizon control.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating some modules that can be part of the outer-loop control system, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, FIG. 3 shows the model 123 of the spacecraft including a nominal model 302 defining relationships among parameters of the model 123, such as the spacecraft orbital dynamics which governs translational motion of the spacecraft, and the spacecraft attitude dynamics and kinematics which governs attitude motion of the spacecraft. The model 123 also includes an inner-loop feedback control model 325 that allows the outer-loop to be able to predict the action taken by the inner-loop 325, and is based on the realization that the outer-loop control system 127 can command 107 (FIG. 2) the thrusters 103 (FIG. 1B & FIG. 1C) to behave in a manner that causes the inner loop control system 125 to command 109 (FIG. 2) the momentum exchange devices 105 (FIG. 1B & FIG. 1C) to unload their momentum.

The model 123 also includes a disturbance model 303 defining the disturbance forces 114 (FIG. 2) acting on the spacecraft 102. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the disturbance forces 114 are determined as if the spacecraft 102 is located at a predetermined position, e.g., the desired position 165 (FIGS. 1C &1D), for different time steps of the control, i.e., regardless of the actual position of the spacecraft. Those embodiments are based on a realization that such an approximation simplifies the computational complexity of the disturbance without a significant reduction of the accuracy. The disturbance module 303 enables the MPC to exploit natural dynamics to compensate for the disturbance forces, so that fuel consumption can be reduced while satisfying motion objectives of the spacecraft.

Still referring to FIG. 3, some of the spacecraft quantities need to remain in desired ranges defined by constraints 305 on the operation of the spacecraft. For example, such quantities can include a pose of the spacecraft including position constraints derived from the requirement to maintain the spacecraft within the window 166 (FIG. 1C & FIG. 1D), and orientation constraints derived from the requirement to maintain the Euler Angles 175 (FIG. 1E) within limits 176.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure are based on the additional realization that constraints 306 on the control inputs are required in order to satisfy the operational limits of the spacecraft actuators, such as thrust magnitude limits. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the constraints 306 are used in combination with at least some constraints 305 for controlling the spacecraft.

Still referring to FIG. 3, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the control inputs 107 are determined based on an optimization of a cost function 309 subject to constraints on the operation of the spacecraft 305 and constraints on the control inputs 306. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the cost function includes a combination of multiple components, including a component 391 for the position of the spacecraft, a component 392 for the attitude of the spacecraft, a component 393 for the stored momentum, a component 394 for an objective of the operation of the spacecraft, and a component 395 for ensuring the stability of the operation of the spacecraft, and a component 396 including a torque penalty. By selecting different combinations of the components of the cost function 306, some embodiments of the present disclosure determine a current cost function 309 adjusted for different objectives of the control.

For example, the component 391 for the position of the spacecraft penalizes a larger displacement 167 (FIG. 1C) of the spacecraft from the desired position 165 (FIG. 1C), so that the optimization of the cost function 309 results in control inputs that when applied to the spacecraft reduce the displacement 167 in order to help achieve the objective of remaining within the window 166 (FIG. 1C & FIG. 1D).

Still referring to FIG. 3, the component 392 for the attitude of the spacecraft penalizes a larger magnitude of the Euler Angles 175 (FIG. 1E & FIG. 1F) of the spacecraft between the spacecraft-fixed reference frame 174 (FIG. 1E) and the desired reference frame, e.g. 171 (FIG. 1E), so that the optimization of the cost function 309 results in control inputs that when applied to the spacecraft reduce the Euler Angles 175 in order to help achieve the objective of maintaining a desired orientation for the spacecraft. These resulting control inputs may be commands that induce the thrusters to fire in a manner that directly reduces the Euler Angles 175 towards their objective, or may be commands that induce the thrusters 103 (FIG. 1B & FIG. 1C) to fire in a manner that influences the inner-loop control system to generate commands to the momentum exchange devices that help achieve the Euler Angle objective.

The component 393 for the stored momentum penalizes a larger magnitude of the stored momentum so that the optimization of the cost function 309 results in control inputs that when applied to the spacecraft unload the stored momentum, e.g., the high values of the reaction wheel spin rates are penalized, resulting in an optimization that produces control inputs to reduce the spin rates of the reaction wheels 105 (FIG. 1B & FIG. 1C). As the outer-loop control system does not directly command the momentum exchange devices and cannot directly unload the stored momentum, this control input would cause the thrusters to fire in a manner that would influence the inner-loop control system to unload the stored momentum.

Still referring to FIG. 3, the component 394 for the objective of the operation of the spacecraft can, for example, include a penalty on the amount of fuel that the thrusters use in order that the optimization of the cost function 309 results in control inputs that use less fuel, or a penalty on a lower magnitude of the speed at which the spacecraft operates in order that the optimization of the cost function results in control inputs that cause the spacecraft to operate faster, i.e. achieve objectives in a shorter period of time.

The component 395 for the stability is determined such that the optimization of the cost function 309 results in control inputs that ensure the stability of the operation of the spacecraft. In one embodiment, where the desired orbit 160 (FIG. 1C & FIG. 1D) is circular, the stability component of the cost function penalizes the position of the spacecraft at the end of the MPC horizon by using the solution to the Discrete Algebraic Riccati Equation (DARE). In other embodiments, the desired orbit is not circular. For example, the desired orbit is elliptic, or otherwise non-circular and periodic. Then, the stability component penalizes the position of the spacecraft at the end of the MPC horizon by using the solution to the Periodic Differential Riccati Equation (PDRE). Note that the PDRE solution is not constant and thus the penalty for the current cost function 209 is selected to correspond to the PDRE solution at the time instant corresponding to the time at the end of the MPC horizon.

Still referring to FIG. 3, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, each of the components 391-394 of the cost function 309 is weighted so that the optimization of the cost function produces control inputs that achieve the various individual component goals with priority corresponding to their relative weight.

For example, in one embodiment, the weights are selected so that the largest weight is given to the component 394 that penalizes the fuel that the thrusters use. As a result, this embodiment generates an operation of the spacecraft that prioritizes using the least amount of fuel possible at the expense of a larger average displacement 167 (FIG. 1C). In a different embodiment, the largest weight is given to the component 391, which penalizes the displacement 167 (FIG. 1C) from the desired position 165 (FIG. 1C & FIG. 1D). As a result, this embodiment generates an operation of the spacecraft that prioritizes maintaining a small average displacement 167 at the expense of using more fuel. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the component 395 for stability has its weight defined according to the weight that generates a stabilizing control input.

Still referring to FIG. 3, the processor 113 (FIG. 1B) of the control system 101 (FIG. 1B) executes various modules of the control system including a control input module 308 for determining force commands 107 to the spacecraft thrusters during a current iteration by optimizing the current cost function 309. The control input module optimizes the current cost function using a current model 301 of the spacecraft subject to constraints 305 on the operation of the spacecraft and constraints 306 on the current control input.

In one embodiment, the optimization of the cost function 309 in the control input module 308 is formulated as a quadratic program (QP). Quadratic programs can be solved more quickly and efficiently in resource-constrained hardware such as spacecraft, which have limited onboard computational power. In order to take advantage of quadratic programs, a linear-quadratic MPC (LQ-MPC) formulation is applied.

Still referring to FIG. 3, for example, the control system also includes the current model module 301 for the linearization of the nominal model 302 at the desired target location 165 (FIG. 1B & FIG. 1C) on the target orbit, the linearization of the inner-loop feedback control model 302, and determination of the disturbance forces at the desired target location 165. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the linearization is due to LQ-MPC making use of a linear prediction model. The module 301 determines the current model of the spacecraft for the current time instant and over the entire MPC horizon. The module 301 can also receive the current state of the spacecraft 106 (FIG. 1B) to determine a state of the spacecraft relative to the linearization.

The control system also includes a cost function module 307 for determining the current cost function 309. For example, the cost function module 307 updates the previous cost function based on change of the target operation of the spacecraft, e.g., a change in the desired motion 133, because different motions can necessitate different cost functions to have the quantities 205 for the spacecraft meet their desired objectives. Also, the cost function module can update the stability component 395 of the cost function if the desired orbit requires an updated weight based on the orbit. Because the steps of the control are performed iteratively, the current model and the current cost function become previous model and previous cost function for subsequent iteration. For example, the previous model, the previous cost function and the previous control input are determined at a previous iteration as the current model, the current cost function and the current control input.

We also figured out at least one set of process steps to implement at least one method of the present disclosure. For example, in order to control the spacecraft to simultaneously stay within a station keeping box and unload excess stored momentum, we develop a control system that can control the spacecraft according to the following repeating method steps:

An initial step 1 can include the step of determining a current spacecraft position relative to a target position on a target orbit using any type of orbital determination procedure, such as GPS, relative range measurements, etc. Step 2 can include determining a current spacecraft orientation relative to a desired orientation using any type of attitude determination procedure, such as a star tracker, horizon sensors, etc. Step 3 can include computing a linearization of the spacecraft orbital and attitude dynamics at the target location on the target orbit for the current time instant and over a future prediction horizon. Step 4 can include computing the predicted non-Keplerian disturbance forces over the same horizon at the target locations and combine it with the dynamics prediction model to form an overall prediction. Step 5 can include possibly updating the cost function dependent on type of orbit. Step 6 can include solving a finite-horizon optimal control problem with the cost function as defined and constrained by the overall prediction model, the station keeping and orientation requirements, the thruster-force-torque relationship, and the constraints on available thrust, to obtain forces, torques, and commands to the onboard momentum exchange devices. Wherein the cost function can optionally include soft constraints on the gimbal angle of the gimbal boom assemblies. Step 7 can include computing from the forces and torques the thrust profile to be commanded to the spacecraft. Step 8 can include using a modulator to modulate magnitudes of the thrust of the coupled thrusters determined by the MPC as pulse signals specifying ON and OFF states of each of the coupled thruster, such that the ON states of the coupled thrusters sharing the same gimbal angle do not intersect in time. Step 9 can include applying the thrust profile to the spacecraft. Step 10 can include applying the commands to the onboard momentum exchange devices. Step 11 can include waiting for a specified amount of time and repeat the process. Of course, the steps may be repeated and/or possibly arranged in a different order.

FIG. 4 shows a spacecraft 102 with center of mass 401 and thrusters 103 mounted on gimbaled boom assemblies 403. The thrusters 103 are often restricted to a side of the spacecraft 102 so that antennas and solar panels 405 may be mounted without the risk of thruster plume impingement. Additionally, they may be required to fire in regions 404 in order to avoid the solar panels 405. Regions 404 may be implemented as hard constraints 306 (FIG. 3) in the MPC on the allowable thruster input commands.

Restricting the placement and allowable firing regions of thrusters that are used for both station keeping and momentum unloading can preclude the thrusters from providing pure torques without also applying a net force on the spacecraft. For example, in FIG. 4, the thrusters 103 fire in direction 402, which does not pass through the center of mass 401 of the spacecraft 102. Such a thruster firing will affect the spacecraft position and orientation (pose) as well as the stored momentum, creating a problem of concurrent station keeping, attitude control, and momentum management.

Still referring to FIG. 4, in theory, the MPC will find the optimal thruster commands to control the spacecraft via control inputs 107 to meet the desired target operation, e.g., a desired motion 133 for the spacecraft, such as a desired trajectory or a target point for some of the quantities. For example, the MPC may recognize that torque-inducing thrusts can lead to an unnecessary rotation of the spacecraft and use the onboard momentum exchange devices 105 to compensate for the unnecessary rotation of the spacecraft. However, the dynamics of the momentum exchange devices 105 can be slower than the dynamics of the thrusters 103 and effects of the operation of the momentum exchange devices can fall outside of a prediction horizon of the MPC.

FIG. 5A shows the predicted value 501 of the momentum exchange device 105 during a prediction horizon 502. Since the dynamics of the momentum exchange devices 105 may be slow compared to the dynamics of the thrusters, its future value 503 may not be exploited in generating control inputs 107 from the MPC. It is a realization that for computational reasons, it may not be feasible to increase the MPC prediction horizon, and to that end, the MPC can fail to provide suitable solution for both the pose of the spacecraft and accumulated onboard momentum.

FIG. 5B shows a solution wherein the cost function 309 (FIG. 3) is augmented with a component 596 for penalizing torques generated by the thrusters 105 (FIG. 1B & FIG. 1C). This torque penalty 596 is also known as a soft constraint where the torque-inducing thrusts can be allowed, but discouraged when the torque is unnecessary. To that end, some embodiments of the present disclosure, in addition to placing hard constraints on the angles of the thrusts, add compontent 596 to the cost function 309 which places soft constraints on the angle of the thrust, penalizing deviation of the angles from the nominal angles corresponding to a torque-free thrust passing through a center of the mass 401 (FIG. 4) of the spacecraft. Optimization of the cost function 309 with component 596 results in control inputs that when applied to the spacecraft are more likely to fire at an angle near the center of mass 401 to help achieve the objective of avoiding unnecessary rotation.

Features

An aspect of the control system can include the MPC controller specifies angles and magnitude of the thrusts of the thrusters, and wherein the thruster controller operate the gimbal to rotate the coupled thrusters to the angel of thrust of the thruster currently scheduled to have ON state. Further aspects can include the modulator is a closed-loop pulse-width modulator (PWM) that quantizes the magnitude of the thrust at a predetermined frequency to produce a pulse signal, wherein a width or a duty cycle of the pulse signal is specified by the continuous thrust request from the MPC and the predetermined frequency.

An aspect of the spacecraft can include the MPC controller optimizes the cost function subject to hard constraints and soft constraints on angles of thrusts generated by thrusters of the spacecraft, wherein the hard constraints requires the angles of thrusts in the solution to fall within a predetermined range defined by the hard constraints, and wherein the soft constraints penalize the solution for deviation of the angles of thrusts from nominal angles corresponding to a torque-free thrust passing through the center of the mass of the spacecraft. wherein the soft constraints form a component of the cost function. wherein the cost function includes a component for the pose of the spacecraft penalizing a displacement of the spacecraft from a target pose and a component for a momentum stored by the momentum exchange devices penalizing a larger value of a magnitude of the stored momentum.

Aspects of the spacecraft can include the model of dynamics of momentum exchange devices of the spacecraft includes dynamics of inner-loop control of the momentum exchange devices, wherein the model of dynamics of the spacecraft includes the dynamics of the inner-loop control, such that the solution of the MPC controller accounts for effects of actuation of the momentum exchange devices according to the inner-loop control. wherein the inner-loop control reduces an error between the orientation of the spacecraft and a target orientation of the spacecraft, wherein the solution of the MPC controller specifies angles and magnitude of the thrusts of the thrusters to reduce speed of the momentum exchange devices.

Aspects of the method can include the model of dynamics of the spacecraft includes a linear nominal model defining relationships among parameters of the model and a disturbance model defining disturbance forces acting on the spacecraft located at a target position for the entire period of the receding horizon. Aspect can include a magnitude summation constraint, which is a sum the magnitude of thrust requests from the MPC for all thrusters during a control period is less than a thrust magnitude when in the ON State, then the MPC is capable of performing a mutually exclusive time modulation, via utilizing the magnitude summation constraint by the MPC as a constraint on control inputs in controlling the spacecraft. Further, an aspect can include the modulator quantizes a requested thrust value from the MPC over a control period to be either fully ON or fully OFF with a single pulse width, based on determining an ON time and an OFF time, resulting from a nonlinear optimization of a cost function, wherein the nonlinear optimization minimizes a predicted error in quantities for the spacecraft that a post-MPC modulation process generates, compared to quantities of motion resulting from the thrust requested by MPC.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of illustrating the method of FIG. 1A, that can be implemented using an alternate computer or processor, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The computer 611 includes a processor 640, computer readable memory 612, storage 658 connected through bus 656.

Contemplated is that the memory 612 can store instructions that are executable by the processor, historical data, and any data to that can be utilized by the methods and systems of the present disclosure. The processor 640 can be a single core processor, a multi-core processor, a computing cluster, or any number of other configurations. The processor 640 can be connected through a bus 656 to one or more input and output devices. The memory 612 can include random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), flash memory, or any other suitable memory systems.

Still referring to FIG. 6, a storage device 658 can be adapted to store supplementary data and/or software modules used by the processor. For example, the storage device 658 can store historical device data and other related device data such as manuals for the devices, wherein the devices are sensing device capable of obtaining measured data as mentioned above regarding the present disclosure. Additionally, or alternatively, the storage device 658 can store historical data similar to sensor data. The storage device 658 can include a hard drive, an optical drive, a thumb-drive, an array of drives, or any combinations thereof.

The computer 611 can include a power source 654, depending upon the application the power source 654 may be optionally located outside of the computer 611. A network interface controller (NIC) 634 is adapted to connect through the bus 656 to a network 636, wherein sensor data or other data, among other things.

Still referring to FIG. 6, the sensor data or other data, among other things, can be transmitted over a communication channel of the network 636, and/or stored within the storage system 658 for storage and/or further processing. Further, the sensor data or other data may be received wirelessly or hard wired from a receiver 646 (or external receiver 638) or transmitted via a transmitter 647 (or external transmitter 639) wirelessly or hard wired, the receiver 646 and transmitter 647 are both connected through the bus 656. The computer 611 may be connected via an input interface 608 to external sensing devices 644 and external input/output devices 641. The computer 611 may be connected to other external computers 642. An output interface 609 may be used to output the processed data from the processor 640.

Equations Computing Commands to Thrusters

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the spacecraft model 123 (FIG. 2) is determined for a nadir-pointing spacecraft in geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) equipped with four gimbaled electric thrusters 103 and three axisymmetric reaction wheels 105 attached to a rigid bus in an orthogonal and mass balanced configuration. A bus-fixed frame 174 (FIG. 1E) is defined for the spacecraft, and an inertial frame 171 (FIG. 1E) is specified for determining the attitude of the spacecraft. The spacecraft equations of motion are given by

$\begin{matrix} {{{{\overset{¨}{r}}_{g}^{cw} + {\mu \frac{r_{g}^{cw}}{{r_{g}^{cw}}^{3}}}} = {a_{g}^{p} + {\frac{1}{m_{S}}f_{g}^{thrust}}}},{{{J_{p}^{Bc}{\overset{.}{\omega}}_{p}^{pg}} + {\omega_{p}^{{pg}^{\times}}\left( {{J_{p}^{Bc}\omega_{p}^{pg}} + {J_{s}\overset{.}{\gamma}}} \right)} + {J_{s}\eta}} = {\tau_{p}^{p} + \tau_{p}^{thrust}}},{C_{pg} = {{- \omega_{p}^{{pg}^{\times}}}C_{pg}}},{\overset{¨}{\gamma} = \eta},} & (1) \end{matrix}$

where r_(g) ^(cw) is the position of the satellite, q^(pg) is an attitude parametrization of C_(pg) with is the rotation matrix of the bus frame relative to the inertial frame, and γ is a column matrix containing the angle of rotation of each reaction wheel. The vector ω_(p) ^(pg) is the angular velocity of the bus frame with respect to the inertial frame resolved in the bus frame. The matrix J_(p) ^(Bc) is the moment of inertia of the satellite 8 relative to its center of mass, resolved in the bus frame. The reaction wheel array has a moment of inertia J_(s) and the wheels are controlled with an acceleration η. The term a_(g) ^(p) represents the external perturbations on the satellite due to Earth's non spherical gravitational field, solar and lunar gravitational attraction, solar radiation pressure (SRP), and are defined below in (4). The term τ_(p) ^(p) represents the perturbation torques due to the solar radiation pressure, which assumes total absorption and is given by

$\begin{matrix} {\tau_{p}^{p} = {{- {c_{p}\left\lbrack {r_{p}^{p_{i}c}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N_{s}}{n_{p}^{i^{T}}{\hat{r}}_{p}^{sc}}}} \right\rbrack}^{\times}}{\hat{r}}_{p}^{sc}}} & (2) \end{matrix}$

where c_(p) is the effective SRP near the Earth, {circumflex over (r)}_(p) ^(sc) is a unit vector pointing towards the sun from the center of mass of the spacecraft, p_(i) is the center of pressure of one of the six sides of the satellite, r_(p) ^(p) ^(i) ^(c) is the position of the center of pressure of the i-th panel relative to the center of mass of the satellite, and n_(p) ^(i) is the normal vector of the i-th panel resolved in the bus frame. The value N_(s) is the number sun-facing panels. Only sun-facing panels contribute to the torque. The gimbaled electric thrusters 150 produce forces that provide a net force on the spacecraft given by

$\begin{matrix} {f_{g}^{thrust} = {{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{4}f_{g}^{t_{i}}} = {C_{pg}^{T}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{4}{C_{ip}^{T}{f_{i}^{t_{i}}.}}}}}} & (3) \end{matrix}$

They also produce a net torque on the spacecraft given by

$\begin{matrix} {\tau_{p}^{thrust} = {\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{4}{r_{p}^{t_{i}c^{\times}}C_{ip}^{T}{f_{i}^{t_{i}}.}}}} & (4) \end{matrix}$

In one embodiment, the inner-loop control system 108 is an SO(3)-based attitude controller, where the feedback law controlling the reaction wheel array in (1) is given by

η=−J _(s) ⁻¹(ν₁+ν₂+ν₃)  (11)

where

ν₁=ω_(p) ^(pg) ^(×) (J _(p) ^(B) ^(c) ω_(p) ^(pg) +J _(s){dot over (γ)})−J _(p) ^(B) ^(c) (K ₁ {dot over (S)}+{tilde over (ω)} ^(×)ω_(p) ^(pg)),

ν₂=−{circumflex over (τ)}_(dist),

ν₃ =−K _(ν)({tilde over (ω)}+K ₁ S)−K _(p) S,

and

{circumflex over ({dot over (d)})}=A _(d) {circumflex over (d)}+B _(d)(ω_(p) ^(pd) +K ₁ S),

{circumflex over (τ)}_(dist) =C _(d) {circumflex over (d)},  (12)

This SO(3) inner-loop attitude controller makes use of the following quantities

S=−

_(a)(C _(pd))^(v),

{dot over (S)}=

_(a)(ω_(p) ^(pd) ^(×) C _(pd))^(v),

ω_(p) ^(pd)=ω_(p) ^(pg) −C _(pd)ω_(d) ^(dg),

where

_(a) is a skew-symmetric projection operator, (·)^(v): so(3)→

³, is the uncross operator un-mapping a skew-symmetric matrix into a three dimensional vector, and K₁, K_(v), and K_(p) are gains.

In other embodiments, the equations in (1) are substituted for equations that govern a spacecraft in other orbits and with other momentum exchange devices other than reaction wheels.

In one embodiment, the model (1) is linearized to form a current prediction model 301 (FIG. 3). The attitude-error rotation matrix R=R^(T)R_(d) is parameterized using the set of 3-2-1 Euler angles (Ψ, θ, φ) as R=C₁(φ)C₂(θ)C₃(Ψ), where R_(d) is the desired attitude trajectory, and C₁, C₂, and C₃ are elementary rotations about the x, y, and z-axes by Ψ, θ, and φ, respectively. The linearization of the attitude dynamics and kinematics about an equilibrium spin with an angular rate corresponding to the mean motion n of the orbit, along with the linearization of the motion of the spacecraft for small maneuvers around a nominal circular orbit, is given by

$\mspace{20mu} {{\delta \; \overset{¨}{r}} = {{{- {\Omega\delta}}\; r} - {2\omega_{0}^{\times}\delta \; \overset{.}{r}} + a_{h}^{p} + {\frac{1}{m_{B}}C_{dh}^{T}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{4}{C_{ip}^{T}f_{i}^{t_{i}}}}}}}$ $\mspace{20mu} {{\delta \overset{.}{\theta}} = {{{- \omega_{0}^{\times}}{\delta\theta}} + {\delta\omega}}}$ ${\delta \overset{.}{\omega}} = {{{- {J_{p}^{{Bc}^{- 1}}\left( {{\omega_{0}^{\times}J_{p}^{Bc}} - \left( {J_{p}^{Bc}\omega_{0}} \right)^{\times}} \right)}}{\delta\omega}} - {J_{p}^{{Bc}^{- 1}}\omega_{0}^{\times}J_{s}\delta \overset{.}{\gamma}} - {J_{p}^{{Bc}^{- 1}}J_{s}\eta} + {\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{4}{r_{p}^{t_{i}c^{\times}}C_{ip}^{T}{f_{i}^{t_{i}}.}}}}$

where δx, δy and δz are the components of the relative position vector δr of the spacecraft relative to the nominal location 165, Ω=diag{−3n², 0, n²}, n=μ/R₀ ³ is the mean motion of the nominal orbit, δω=[δω₁, δω₂, δω₃] is the relative angular velocity components of the spacecraft, and δθ=[δφ, δθ, δΨ] is the relative Euler angles of the spacecraft. That is, they are quantities that represent the error from the desired spacecraft angular velocity components and desired Euler angles.

For embodiments that utilize an inner-loop attitude control, the linearization of (1) along with the inner-loop control law (11), is used as the inner-loop feedback control model 325 (FIG. 3) as part of the prediction based on the model 123. This gives the changed relative angular velocity equation

${{\delta \overset{.}{\omega}} = {\tau_{p}^{thrust} + {\underset{\underset{K_{d\; 2}}{}}{\left\lbrack {{- K_{1}} + \omega_{0}^{\times} - {J_{p}^{{Bc}^{- 1}}K_{v}}} \right\rbrack \delta}\omega} - {J_{p}^{{Bc}^{- 1}}C_{d}\hat{d}} + {\underset{\underset{K_{p\; 3}}{}}{\left\lbrack {{K_{1}\omega_{0}^{\times}} - {\omega_{0}^{\times}\omega_{0}^{\times}} + {J_{p}^{{Bc}^{- 1}}\left( {{K_{v}\omega_{0}^{\times}} - {K_{v}K_{1}} - K_{p}} \right)}} \right\rbrack}{\delta\theta}}}},$

and the additional linearized equations based on (12) given by

{circumflex over ({dot over (d)})}=A _(d) {circumflex over (d)}+B _(d) δω+B _(d)(K ₁−ω₀ ^(×))δθ,

{dot over (τ)}_(dist) =C _(d) {circumflex over (d)}.

For embodiments in which a spacecraft is in GEO, the main perturbation accelerations are due to solar and lunar gravitational attraction, solar radiation pressure, and the anisotropic geopotential, that is, Earth's non-spherical gravitational field. Analytic expressions for these perturbation forces per unit mass, i.e., the disturbance accelerations, are given, respectively, by

$\begin{matrix} {{{\overset{\rightharpoonup}{a}}_{sun} = {\mu_{sun}\left( {\frac{{\overset{\rightharpoonup}{r}}_{{sun}/{sc}}}{r_{{sun}/{sc}}^{3}} - \frac{{\overset{\rightharpoonup}{r}}_{{sun}/{earth}}}{r_{{sun}/{earth}}^{3}}} \right)}},{{\overset{\rightharpoonup}{a}}_{moon} = {\mu_{moon}\left( {\frac{{\overset{\rightharpoonup}{r}}_{{moon}/{sc}}}{r_{{moon}/{sc}}^{3}} - \frac{{\overset{\rightharpoonup}{r}}_{{moon}/{earth}}}{r_{{moon}/{earth}}^{3}}} \right)}},{{\overset{\rightharpoonup}{a}}_{srp} = {C_{srp}\frac{S\left( {1 + c_{refl}} \right)}{{2m}\;}\frac{{\overset{\rightharpoonup}{r}}_{{sc}/{sun}}}{r_{{sc}/{sun}}}}},{{\overset{\rightharpoonup}{a}}_{J_{2}} = {\frac{3\mu \; J_{2}\rho_{E}^{2}}{2r^{5}}\left( {{\left( {{5\frac{\left( {\overset{\rightharpoonup}{r} \cdot {\hat{k}}_{E}} \right)}{r^{2}}} - 1} \right)\overset{\rightharpoonup}{r}} - {2\left( {\overset{\rightharpoonup}{r} \cdot {\hat{k}}_{E}} \right){\hat{k}}_{E}}} \right)}},} & (4) \end{matrix}$

where

denotes a coordinate-free (unresolved) vector, μsun and μmoon are the gravitational constants of the sun and moon, C_(srp) is the solar radiation pressure constant, S is the solar-facing surface area, c_(refl) is the surface reflectance, ρ_(E) is Earth's equatorial radius, {circumflex over (k)}_(E) is the z-axis unit vector of the Earth-centered inertial frame, and J₂ is the dominant coefficient in the considered geopotential perturbation model, where additional higher order terms are ignored. The sum of the individual disturbance accelerations in (4) yields the total disturbance acceleration considered in (1).

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a state-space model is given by

{dot over (x)}(t)=A _(c) x(t)+B _(c) u(t),  (5)

where

x=[δr ^(T) δ{dot over (r)} ^(T)δθ^(T)δω^(T)δ{dot over (γ)}^(T) {circumflex over (d)} ^(T)]^(T)  (6)

u=[f ₁ ^(t) ¹ f ₂ ^(t) ² f ₃ ^(t) ³ f ₄ ^(t) ⁴ ]^(T)  (7)

In order to be used as a prediction model in the MPC policy, (5) is discretized with a sampling period of ΔT sec which yields

x _(k+1) =Ax _(k) +Bu _(k),  (8)

where x_(k) is the state at time step k∈Z⁺, u_(k) is the control vector at the time step k∈Z⁺, and A=exp(A_(c)ΔT), B=∫₀ ^(ΔT) exp(A_(c)(ΔT−τ))dτB_(c) are the discretized matrices obtained based on the continuous-time system realization (A_(c), B_(c)) in (5).

Estimation of the Disturbances Acting on the Spacecraft

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the model (8) is augmented with a prediction model of the disturbance accelerations (4), obtaining

x _(k+1) =Ax _(k) +Bu _(k)+

_(H/E) a _(p,k),  (9)

where a_(p,k) is the total disturbance acceleration predicted at time step k based on propagation of the desired position 165 (FIG. 1B & FIG. 1C), and O_(H/E) is the rotation matrix that transforms the components of a_(p,k) from the inertial frame 171 (FIG. 1E) into the components of the same acceleration in the desired reference frame 170 (FIG. 1C).

The desired position 165 (FIG. 1B & FIG. 1C) for disturbance-acceleration prediction is used in (9) due to the nonlinearity of the analytical expressions in (4).

FIG. 7 shows the spacecraft 102 displaced from its desired position 165 at time step k=0. Because the desired positions 701, 702, and 703 on the nominal orbit 160 at time steps k=1, k=2, . . . , k=N are known in advance, a_(p,k) can be predicted based on the analytical expressions (4) at time steps k=1, k=2, . . . , k=N from the disturbance forces 704, 705, and 706. As the spacecraft position is to be constrained in a tight window 166, the difference in the disturbance accelerations at the desired positions 701, 702, and 703 and at the true satellite position 707, which is unknown in advance, is negligible. Accordingly, some embodiments of the present disclosure determine the disturbance forces as if the spacecraft is located at the target position for the entire period of the receding horizon.

FIG. 8A shows a spacecraft 102 with gimbaled boom assemblies 403 where each assembly mounts a pair of thrusters 103 on the same gimbal, making the rotation of the thrusters in each pair dependent on each other, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. That is, a rotation of each thruster 103 is controlled by the rotation of the gimbal 403, and thus the rotation of one thruster necessitates the rotation of all thrusters mounted on the gimbal, i.e., all thrusters mounted on the same gimbaled boom assembly share the same gimbal angle. In theory, MPC can handle such a configuration of the thrusters within the model of dynamics of the spacecraft 123 effecting the pose of the spacecraft with a constraint 305 joining the angles of the thrusters. However, such a model of dynamics 123 results in a non-linear optimization of the cost function 309. The non-linear MPC can be undesirable for some onboard control systems with limited computational and memory capability.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure can be based on recognition that removal of the constraint 305 requiring joint and/or dependent rotation of the thrusters 103 mounted on the same gimbal 403 reduces the complexity of MPC and can result in the MPC solving a linear optimization problem. However, such a simplification can lead to an unfeasible solution when two thrusters sharing the same gimbal angle need to thrust at the same time, but with different angles of thrusts. However, some embodiments of the present disclosure are based on realization that such infeasible solution can be handled by a post-MPC modulation process that decouples the thrusters 103 sharing the same gimbal angle allowing the thrusters to thrust at different times. For example, while some advanced electric propulsion systems can throttle continuous thrust, a vast majority of thrusters remains ON-OFF in nature, with an ON level 810 and an OFF level 811. In addition, power limitations may limit the number of thrusters that can be ON 810 at the same time. To that end, some embodiments of the present disclosure are based on realization that ON-OFF modulation can force the thrusters sharing the same gimbal angle to thrust at different times without sacrificing their ON-OFF performance.

Still referring to FIG. 8A, an MPC solution can produce constant thrust magnitudes 801 to be generated by the thrusters sharing the same gimbal angle over a period of a control step 803. For example, in some implementations, that period is one hour. Some embodiments of the present disclosure modulate or encode these thrust magnitudes into pulse signals 802 specifying ON 810 and OFF 811 state of each thruster within the period of the control step 803. The thrusters generate the thrust of a predetermined magnitude when the state of the thrust is ON, and do not generate any thrust when the state of the thruster is OFF. The average magnitude of the thrust of each modulated signal equals the corresponding magnitude of the thrust requested by the MPC solution. For example, one embodiment augments the MPC with a closed-loop pulse-width modulation (PWM) scheme 800 that quantizes a requested thrust value 801 to be either fully on 810 or fully off 811 at a predetermined period 804. The width, or duty cycle 805, of the pulse 802 is specified by the continuous thrust request 801 from the MPC policy and the predetermined period 804. For example, in some implementations, the frequency may be determined to be N pulses per control step 803, giving a period 804 of control step 803 divided by N. The pulse width 805 will then be determined as the ratio between the fully on thruster magnitude 810 and the requested MPC value 801 multiplied by the period 804.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure modulate the thrust magnitudes such that the ON states of the thrusters 103 sharing the same gimbal angle do not intersect in time. Such a mutually exclusive time modulation allows the gimbal to rotate mounted thrusters to the angel of the thruster currently scheduled to have ON state. For example, still referring to FIG. 8A, during a period 804, each of two thrusters 103 on a single gimbal assembly 403 may have its own continuous thrust request 801 and 813 from the MPC policy that requires them to thrust at the same time, but with different angles of thrust. Since the width 808 of the pulse 802 generated by the PWM scheme 800 for the first thruster is less than the period 804, the width 809 of the second pulse 812 can be realized subsequently after a rotation of the thrusters to the angel of the thruster currently scheduled to have an ON state. So long as the sum of the thrust requests from the MPC for all thrusters during a control period 803 is less than the on magnitude 810, it is possible to perform a mutually exclusive time modulation in this manner. This magnitude summation constraint may be enforced by the MPC as a constraint on control inputs 306.

In another embodiment, FIG. 8B shows a different modulation scheme from FIG. 8A, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The scheme of FIG. 8B quantizes a requested thrust value 801 over a control period 803 to be either fully on 810 or fully off 811 with a single pulse width that is determined by the on time 821 and the off time 822 that are the result of a nonlinear optimization problem. This optimization problem seeks to minimize the predicted error in quantities 205 for the spacecraft that a post-MPC modulation process generates compared to the quantities 205 of the motion resulting from the thrust requested by MPC.

Equations Computing Thrust Modulation

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, thrusters 103 may be on-off actuators taking a value of either 0 or f_(max) at any time instant. Additionally, power limitations may limit the number of thrusters that can be on at the same time, and very often it is desirable to have only one thruster active at a time. To remedy these problems, a method for quantizing the thrust requested by the MPC policy implemented using a pulse-width modulation (PWM) scheme 800. The requested thrust from the MPC is constant over every 1 hour time period. During each hour active thrusters will pulse a total of N times. The length of each pulse must be such that the average thrust produced is equal to the constant thrust requested by the MPC. The period of the PWM scheme is set to be:

T=Δt/N,Δt=1 hr

In one embodiment, the thruster is fired at the beginning of each period. The cut-off time t_(c) is the time during the PWM period when the thruster is on. This can be calculated as

t _(c) =u _(mpc) T/u _(max)

where u_(mpc) is the thrust commanded by the MPC. If the MPC requests more than one active thruster during a control period 803, the thrusters will fire consecutively (i.e., if thruster 1 fires at time t=0, thruster 2 fires at t=t_(c1) and cuts off at time t=t_(c1)+t_(c2), etc.).

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, a time modulation scheme is designed to quantize the requested MPC thrust to be on or off in a way that minimizes the predicted error in state vector (6) as a result of modifying the MPC thruster request (7). A nonlinear optimization problem of the form

argmin_({t1,i;t2,i}) e ^(T) We  (20)

is solved, where the error in predicted states induced by quantization is given by

e=x _(mpc)(t _(f))−x _(quant)(t _(f)),

where W is a weight matrix, the predicted states at t_(f)=t₀+Δt using MPC input are

x_(mpc)(t_(f)) = e^(A Δ t)x(t₀) + ∫_(t₀)^(t_(f))e^(A(t_(f) − τ))d τ Bu_(mpc)

and the predicted states at t_(f)=t₀+Δt using a single pulse for each thruster are

$\begin{matrix} {{x_{quant}\left( t_{f} \right)} = {{e^{A{({t_{f} - t_{0}})}}{x\left( t_{0} \right)}} + {\int_{t_{0}}^{t_{f}}{e^{A{({t_{f} - \tau})}}{{Bu}(\tau)}d\; \tau}}}} \\ {= {{e^{A\; \Delta \; t}{x\left( t_{0} \right)}} + {\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{4}{e^{A{({t_{f} - t_{2,i}})}}{\int_{t_{1,i}}^{t_{2,i}}{e^{A{({t_{2,i} - \tau})}}d\; \tau \; B_{i}^{f}u_{{{ma}\; x},i}}}}}}} \end{matrix}$

to find on time, t_(1,i) and off time, t_(2,i) for the i'th thruster. In this way, this scheme will produce a single on-off pulse per control period for each thruster that minimizes the predicted error in the state vector (6). Constraints on optimization problem (20) may optionally ensure that on-off pulses for thrusters 103 do not overlap in time.

Constraints on Inputs to Thrusters

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, constraints 129 (FIG. 2) on the operation of the spacecraft are imposed, at least in part, by δy and δz, corresponding to a station keeping window 166 using the relations

|δy|≤r ₀ tan(λ_(1,max)),  (10a)

|δz|≤r ₀ tan(λ_(2,max)),  (10b)

where λ_(1,max) is the maximum tolerable longitude error, and λ_(2,max) is the maximum tolerable latitude error.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the thrusters 103 may be gimbaled in order to allow them to rotate a fixed amount from their nominal alignment with a spacecraft frame 174. Individual thrusters, however, have limited gimbal range of motion and are therefore constrained to lie in the interior of four planes that form a pyramid 183. This constraint is given by

D _(i) f _(i) ^(t) ^(i) ≥0,  (13)

where each of the four rows of D_(i) contains a normal vector describing a plane.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the relative Euler angles (δφ, δθ, δΨ) are constrained to be within a small tolerance,

|δϕ|≤δϕ_(max),|δθ|≤δθ_(max),|δψ|≤δψ_(max),  (14)

in order maintain the spacecraft orientation, even while unloading excess stored momentum.

Cost Function Objectives

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the current cost function 309 (FIG. 3) is composed of costs associated with various objectives, e.g. an objective J₁ that quantifies displacement from the nominal orbital position, an objective J₂ that quantifies the error in the Euler angles and penalizes the spacecraft angular velocity components, an objective J₃ that penalizes usage of the thrusters to generate forces and torques, and an objective J₄ that penalizes the reaction wheel momentum. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, these costs J₁-J₄ are given by

J ₁=(

)²+(

)²+(

),²

J ₂=(

)²+(

)²+(

)²+(δω₁)²+(δω₂)²+(δω₃),²

J ₃=(

)²+(

)²+(

)²+(τ₁)²+(τ₂)²+(τ₃),²

J ₄=(η₁)²+(η₂)²+(η₃),²

Each objective J₁-J₄ is multiplied by a weight w_(i) and combined into a total cost function J_(tot),

=Σ_(i=1, . . . ,4)

J _(i).  (18)

The weight w_(i) assigned to each objective determines its relative importance. The larger the weight assigned to given objective, the more that objective takes precedence when the cost function is optimized.

Based on (6) and (7), J_(tot) can be written for the state-space formulation as

J _(tot) =x ^(T) Qx+u ^(T) Ru,  (19)

where Q and R are symmetric positive definite weighting matrices that encode the weights w_(i) assigned to each objective and may further modify or add additional weights such as cross-weights that are not evident from the component formulation (18).

Stability Objective of the Cost Function

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, where the desired orbit is not circular, for example elliptic, or otherwise non-circular and periodic, then the model 123 (FIG. 3) of the spacecraft motion about that orbit may be linear and time-varying. In such embodiments, the component 395 (FIG. 3) of the cost function 309 (FIG. 3) for the stability is determined based on the solution to the Periodic Difference Riccati Equation (PDRE)

P _(k) =Q _(k) +A _(k) ^(T) P _(k+1) A _(k) −A _(k) ^(T) P _(k+1) B _(k)(R _(k) +B _(k) ^(T) P _(k+1) B _(k))⁻¹ B _(k) ^(T) P _(k+1) A _(k)  (15)

where A_(k), B_(k) are the matrices of the model 123 at time step k, and P_(k), Q_(k), and R_(k), are symmetric positive definite weighting matrices. The matrices Q_(k) and R_(k) are taken to be the same as the weighting matrices in (19).

For embodiments where the linearization is time-invariant, such as motion around a nominal circular orbit, e.g. GEO, the component 395 (FIG. 3) for the stability is determined based on the solution to the Discrete Algebratic Riccati Equation (DARE)

P=Q+A ^(T) PA−A ^(T) PB(R+B ^(T) PB)⁻¹ B ^(T) PA  (16)

where A, B are the matrices of the model in (8), and P, Q, and R, are symmetric positive definite weighting matrices. As above, the matrices Q and R are taken to be the same as the weighting matrices in (19).

Control Input Computation

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the control input module 308 (FIG. 3) takes the form of a finite horizon numerical optimization problem,

$\begin{matrix} {{{\min\limits_{U}{x_{N}^{T}P_{N}x_{N}}} + {\sum\limits_{k = 1}^{N - 1}{x_{k}^{T}Q_{k}x_{k}}} + {u_{k}^{T}R_{k}u_{k}}},{{s.t.\mspace{14mu} x_{k + 1}} = {{A_{k}x_{k}} + {B_{k}u_{k}} + {_{{H/E},k}a_{p,k}}}},{x_{0} = {x(t)}},{T_{\min} \leq {Du}_{k} \leq T_{{ma}\; x}},{{\delta \; y_{\min}} \leq {\delta \; y} \leq {\delta \; y_{{ma}\; x}}},{{\delta \; z_{\min}} \leq {\delta \; z} \leq {\delta \; z_{{ma}\; x}}},{{\delta \; \varphi_{\min}} \leq {\delta \; \varphi_{k}} \leq {\delta \; \varphi_{{ma}\; x}}},{{\delta \; \theta_{\min}} \leq {\delta \; \theta_{k}} \leq {\delta \; \theta_{{ma}\; x}}},{{\delta \; \psi_{\min}} \leq {\delta \; \psi_{k}} \leq {\delta \; \psi_{{ma}\; x}}},} & (17) \end{matrix}$

which is formed from the current cost function 309 (FIG. 3), the current linearized spacecraft model 123 that predicts the evolution of the state over the horizon using (9), and the spacecraft constraints 306 (FIG. 3) using (10), (13), and (14), where P_(N), Q_(k), R_(k) are the matrices given in (15), D is as in (13), and x(t) is the state at the current time step. The problem (17) is solved using a numerical solver, which finds the input sequence U=[u₁ . . . u_(N)]^(T) that minimizes the current cost function subject to the problem constraints.

The first input u₁ in the input sequence is considered as the output 107 of the input computation 208. The input u₁ is combined with the output of the inner-loop feedback control 109 which constructs the commands 104 to the thrusters and the momentum exchange devices. At the next time step, t+1 the model and cost function are updated, the state is updated, and the numerical optimization problem is solved again.

If the orbit is such that the spacecraft model 123 (FIG. 3) is time-invariant, then A₁=A₂= . . . =A, B₁=B₂= . . . =B, and P_(N), Q_(k), and R_(k) in (17) are given by the matrices P, Q, and R in (16). The inclusion of P_(N) or P in the cost function of (17) ensures local stability of the target position, as near the origin, where constraints are inactive, and in the absence of disturbance prediction, the solution of (17) is equivalent to that of either a Periodic-LQR or LQR controller.

The above-described embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented in any of numerous ways. For example, the embodiments may be implemented using hardware, software or a combination thereof. Use of ordinal terms such as “first,” “second,” in the claims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote any priority, precedence, or order of one claim element over another or the temporal order in which acts of a method are performed, but are used merely as labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain name from another element having a same name (but for use of the ordinal term) to distinguish the claim elements.

Although the present disclosure has been described with reference to certain preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that various other adaptations and modifications can be made within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, it is the aspect of the append claims to cover all such variations and modifications as come within the true spirit and scope of the present disclosure. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A spacecraft comprising: a spacecraft bus; a set of thrusters for changing a pose of the spacecraft, wherein at least two thrusters are mounted on a gimbaled boom assembly connecting the two thrusters with the spacecraft bus, such that the two thrusters are coupled thrusters sharing the same gimbal angle; a set of momentum exchange devices for absorbing disturbance torques acting on the spacecraft; and a model predictive controller (MPC) to produce a solution for controlling thrusters of the spacecraft by optimizing a cost function over a receding horizon using a model of dynamics of the spacecraft effecting a pose of the spacecraft and a model of dynamics of the momentum exchange devices of the spacecraft effecting an orientation of the spacecraft, wherein the model of dynamics of the spacecraft allows mutually independent rotation of the coupled thrusters violating mechanics of the gimbaled boom assembly; a modulator to modulate magnitudes of the thrust of the coupled thrusters determined by the MPC as pulse signals specifying ON and OFF states of each of the coupled thruster, such that the ON states of the coupled thrusters sharing the same gimbal angle do not intersect in time; and a thruster controller to operate the thrusters according to their corresponding pulse signals.
 2. The spacecraft of claim 1, wherein the MPC controller specifies angles and magnitude of the thrusts of the thrusters, and wherein the thruster controller operate the gimbal to rotate the coupled thrusters to the angel of thrust of the thruster currently scheduled to have ON state.
 3. The spacecraft of claim 1, wherein the modulator is a closed-loop pulse-width modulator (PWM) that quantizes the magnitude of the thrust at a predetermined frequency to produce a pulse signal, wherein a width or a duty cycle of the pulse signal is specified by the continuous thrust request from the MPC and the predetermined frequency.
 4. The spacecraft of claim 1, wherein the MPC controller optimizes the cost function subject to hard constraints and soft constraints on angles of thrusts generated by thrusters of the spacecraft, wherein the hard constraints requires the angles of thrusts in the solution to fall within a predetermined range defined by the hard constraints, and wherein the soft constraints penalize the solution for deviation of the angles of thrusts from nominal angles corresponding to a torque-free thrust passing through the center of the mass of the spacecraft.
 5. The spacecraft of claim 4, wherein the soft constraints form a component of the cost function.
 6. The spacecraft of claim 5, wherein the cost function includes a component for the pose of the spacecraft penalizing a displacement of the spacecraft from a target pose and a component for a momentum stored by the momentum exchange devices penalizing a larger value of a magnitude of the stored momentum.
 7. The spacecraft of claim 1, wherein the model of dynamics of momentum exchange devices of the spacecraft includes dynamics of inner-loop control of the momentum exchange devices, wherein the model of dynamics of the spacecraft includes the dynamics of the inner-loop control, such that the solution of the MPC controller accounts for effects of actuation of the momentum exchange devices according to the inner-loop control.
 8. The spacecraft of claim 7, wherein the inner-loop control reduces an error between the orientation of the spacecraft and a target orientation of the spacecraft, wherein the solution of the MPC controller specifies angles and magnitude of the thrusts of the thrusters to reduce speed of the momentum exchange devices.
 9. The spacecraft of claim 1, wherein the model of dynamics of the spacecraft includes a linear nominal model defining relationships among parameters of the model and a disturbance model defining disturbance forces acting on the spacecraft located at a target position for the entire period of the receding horizon.
 10. The spacecraft of claim 1, wherein a magnitude summation constraint, which is a sum the magnitude of thrust requests from the MPC for all thrusters during a control period is less than a thrust magnitude when in the ON State, then the MPC is capable of performing a mutually exclusive time modulation, via utilizing the magnitude summation constraint by the MPC as a constraint on control inputs in controlling the spacecraft.
 11. The spacecraft of claim 1, wherein the modulator quantizes a requested thrust value from the MPC over a control period to be either fully ON or fully OFF with a single pulse width, based on determining an ON time and an OFF time, resulting from a nonlinear optimization of a cost function, wherein the nonlinear optimization minimizes a predicted error in quantities for the spacecraft that a post-MPC modulation process generates, compared to quantities of motion resulting from the thrust requested by MPC.
 12. A spacecraft comprising: a spacecraft bus; a set of thrusters for changing a pose of the spacecraft, wherein at least two thrusters are mounted on a gimbaled boom assembly connecting the two thrusters with the spacecraft bus, such that the two thrusters are coupled thrusters sharing the same gimbal angle; a set of momentum exchange devices for absorbing disturbance torques acting on the spacecraft; and a model predictive controller (MPC) to produce a solution for controlling thrusters of the spacecraft by optimizing a cost function over a receding horizon using a model of dynamics of the spacecraft effecting a pose of the spacecraft and a model of dynamics of the momentum exchange devices of the spacecraft effecting an orientation of the spacecraft; a modulator to modulate magnitudes of the thrust of the coupled thrusters determined by the MPC as pulse signals specifying ON and OFF states of each of the coupled thruster, such that the ON states of the coupled thrusters sharing the same gimbal angle do not intersect in time; and a thruster controller to operate the thrusters according to their corresponding pulse signals.
 13. The spacecraft of claim 12, wherein the model of dynamics of the spacecraft allows mutually independent rotation of the coupled thrusters violating mechanics of the gimbaled boom assembly.
 14. The spacecraft of claim 13, wherein the modulator modulates the magnitudes of the thrust of the coupled thrusters determined by the MPC as pulse signals specifying ON and OFF states of each of the coupled thruster, such that the ON states of the coupled thrusters sharing the same gimbal angle do not intersect in time.
 15. The spacecraft of claim 12, wherein the MPC controller specifies angles and magnitude of the thrusts of the thrusters, and wherein the thruster controller operate the gimbal to rotate the coupled thrusters to the angel of thrust of the thruster currently scheduled to have ON state.
 16. The spacecraft of claim 12, wherein the modulator is a closed-loop pulse-width modulator (PWM) that quantizes the magnitude of the thrust at a predetermined frequency to produce a pulse signal, wherein a width or a duty cycle of the pulse signal is specified by the continuous thrust request from the MPC and the predetermined frequency.
 17. The spacecraft of claim 12, wherein the MPC controller optimizes the cost function subject to hard constraints and soft constraints on angles of thrusts generated by thrusters of the spacecraft, wherein the hard constraints requires the angles of thrusts in the solution to fall within a predetermined range defined by the hard constraints, and wherein the soft constraints penalize the solution for deviation of the angles of thrusts from nominal angles corresponding to a torque-free thrust passing through the center of the mass of the spacecraft, wherein the soft constraints form a component of the cost function, such that the cost function includes a component for the pose of the spacecraft penalizing a displacement of the spacecraft from a target pose and a component for a momentum stored by the momentum exchange devices penalizing a larger value of a magnitude of the stored momentum.
 18. The spacecraft of claim 12, wherein the model of dynamics of momentum exchange devices of the spacecraft includes dynamics of inner-loop control of the momentum exchange devices, wherein the model of dynamics of the spacecraft includes the dynamics of the inner-loop control, such that the solution of the MPC controller accounts for effects of actuation of the momentum exchange devices according to the inner-loop control, wherein the inner-loop control reduces an error between the orientation of the spacecraft and a target orientation of the spacecraft, wherein the solution of the MPC controller specifies angles and magnitude of the thrusts of the thrusters to reduce speed of the momentum exchange devices.
 19. The spacecraft of claim 12, wherein the model of dynamics of the spacecraft includes a linear nominal model defining relationships among parameters of the model and a disturbance model defining disturbance forces acting on the spacecraft located at a target position for the entire period of the receding horizon.
 20. A control system for controlling an operation of a spacecraft, comprising: a model predictive controller (MPC) to produce a solution for controlling a set of thrusters of the spacecraft by optimizing a cost function over a receding horizon using a model of dynamics of the spacecraft effecting a pose of the spacecraft and a model of dynamics of a set of momentum exchange devices of the spacecraft effecting an orientation of the spacecraft, wherein the set of thrusters of the spacecraft change a pose of the spacecraft, such that at least two thrusters are mounted on a gimbaled boom assembly of the spacecraft connecting the at least two thrusters with the spacecraft bus, such that the at least two thrusters are coupled thrusters sharing a same gimbal angle, wherein the set of momentum exchange devices are capable of absorbing disturbance torques acting on the spacecraft, and wherein the model of dynamics of the spacecraft allows mutually independent rotation of the coupled thrusters violating mechanics of the gimbaled boom assembly; a modulator in communication with the MPC, to modulate magnitudes of the thrust of the coupled thrusters determined by the MPC as pulse signals specifying ON and OFF states of each of the coupled thruster, such that the ON states of the coupled thrusters sharing the same gimbal angle do not intersect in time; and a thruster controller to operate the thrusters according to their corresponding pulse signals. 